Sabalenka and Rybakina reach French Open fourth round as Medvedev and Zverev also advance | Kamra

Germany’s Alexander Zverev reacts after missing a shot against Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS (AP) — Grand Slam winners Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka reached the fourth round of the French Open in straight sets on Saturday.

Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, top seed, defeated Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-2. Two-time Australian Open champion Sabalenka, the top seed, followed on Court Philippe Chatrier and won against Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-1.

“It’s hard to play your best friend,” Sabalenka said.

It was for a while.

After trailing 5-3 in the first set, Sabalenka won eight straight games to take control.

“I was feeling and confident in my shots,” Sabalenka said.

Badosa said their friendship doesn’t affect how they play.

“We have a great relationship and then when the game comes around we separate things,” she said. “We’re adversaries there, but after that and before that, we’ll always be friends.”

Former No. 1 Sabalenka’s best performance at Roland Garros was the semifinals, while Rybakina – the only player from Kazakhstan to win a major – has a quarter-final appearance.

Russian-born Varvara Gracheva advanced to the fourth round of a major for the first time after defeating Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-3.

In a match that ended just after 3am local time on Sunday, defending champion Novak Djokovic came back from two sets to one down to eventually beat 30th seed Lorenzo Musetti , with 7-5, 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-. 3, 6-0 in almost four and a half hours.

It was the second time in three years top seed Djokovic was pushed to five sets by the Italian, who in the 2021 fourth round in Paris took the first two sets before retiring in the fifth .

Djokovic faces 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round.

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev came back from 4-1 down in the fifth set to beat 26th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6 , 7-6 (3), getting the win with an ace.

Zverev, who won the Italian Open last month, has reached the semifinals at the last three French Opens and avoided his first exit at Roland Garros since losing in the first round in 2017.

On Friday, Zverev’s trial began in Germany for allegedly causing bodily harm to a woman. Prosecutors accuse Zverev of pushing his ex-partner against a wall and choking her during an argument in Berlin in May 2020.

Griekspoor failed to reach the fourth round of a major tournament for the first time, and his record against the top five players dropped to 0-11.

In the men’s third-round match, former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev won 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 against Tomas Machac and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded series, defeated number 15-seeded American Ben Shelton 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

Their match was stopped by rain on Friday night. Shelton has been bothered by a left shoulder problem and has been worked on by a trainer.

Auger-Aliassime has never reached the quarter-finals here and has to overcome two-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz.

For the fifth day in a row, rain interrupted play. Shortly before 1 p.m., the rain came again with a cold wind and the temperature dropped to 14 degrees (57 F).

Medvedev wore leg warmers in his first set against Machac, who beat Djokovic in the Geneva Open semi-finals last week, then eliminated him for the second set.

There was an unusual moment at the end of the match when chair umpire Damien Dumusois scooped up a pigeon that fell to the pitch.

For almost five hours, the only play was under the roofs of Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Singles play finally resumed elsewhere at 17:37 and Elina Avanesyan defeated Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6 ). Avanesyan led 5-2 in the third set, but Zheng forced a tiebreaker, making a long day even longer.

“Thanks to everyone here for sticking around to support us,” Avanesyan said. “After a few days here, I think everyone got used to it (weather). At break we played cards and drank tea.”

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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis