{"id":1862,"date":"2026-05-25T20:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2026-05-25T20:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:14:28","slug":"day-1-roland-garros-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/2026\/05\/25\/day-1-roland-garros-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 1 &#8211; Roland Garros 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>On 24 May 2026, Roland Garros opened with fireworks: Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev advanced smoothly, while Nishesh Basavareddy stunned 7th seed Taylor Fritz in one of the biggest upsets of the day. The women\u2019s draw saw Belinda Bencic and other seeds progress, with Iga Swiatek scheduled for her opener the following day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfbe Men\u2019s Singles Results \u2013 24 May 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Novak Djokovic<\/strong> def. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 Djokovic was tested by the Frenchman\u2019s booming serve but found his rhythm to secure a four-set win.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alexander Zverev<\/strong> def. Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 The German second seed looked composed and efficient, never allowing Bonzi into the match.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nishesh Basavareddy<\/strong> def. Taylor Fritz 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1 The 21-year-old American wildcard shocked Fritz, winning two tight tiebreaks before dominating the fourth set.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Joao Fonseca<\/strong> def. Luka Pavlovic 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-2 The Brazilian teenager showed nerves of steel, advancing in straight sets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lorenzo Sonego<\/strong> def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 A rollercoaster five-setter saw Sonego edge past the French qualifier.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hamad Medjedovic<\/strong> def. Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 The Serbian youngster overcame a third-set hiccup to advance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf38 Women\u2019s Singles Results \u2013 24 May 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Belinda Bencic<\/strong> def. Sinja Kraus 6-2, 6-4 The Swiss 11th seed began her campaign with a confident straight-sets win.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other top women\u2019s seeds, including <strong>Iga Swiatek<\/strong>, <strong>Elena Rybakina<\/strong>, and <strong>Elina Svitolina<\/strong>, were scheduled to play their openers on 25 May.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfa4 Parisian Buzz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest roar of the day came on Court Suzanne-Lenglen as Basavareddy sealed his upset over Fritz, marking his Roland Garros debut in unforgettable fashion. Djokovic\u2019s resilience and Zverev\u2019s composure reassured their fans, while Bencic\u2019s clean start kept Swiss hopes alive. With the women\u2019s top seeds set to take the stage next, the clay in Paris is already proving unpredictable and thrilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd25 Highlights &amp; Fun Commentary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>MTC Outpost<\/strong> \u2013 Sitting pretty at the top with 25 points, they\u2019ve built a strong cushion. Their picks are clearly paying off, and they look like the team to beat right now.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fraud Watch<\/strong> \u2013 Just behind with 21 points, they\u2019re keeping the leaders honest. If their players keep grinding, they could close the gap quickly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>French correction<\/strong> \u2013 Tied for third, they\u2019re proving that clever naming and clever picks go hand in hand. A dark horse to watch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tournament Director<\/strong> \u2013 At 13 points, they\u2019re hanging in the middle of the pack. Maybe too busy running the show to climb higher?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>SINNER YOUR FRENCH ONION SOUP<\/strong> \u2013 With 12 points, they\u2019ve got one of the most creative names and are simmering nicely in mid-table. Could they serve up a surprise later in the tournament?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Miss Hits<\/strong> \u2013 Just 1 point so far, but hey, every rally starts with a single shot. Plenty of time to turn things around.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fine Whines<\/strong> \u2013 Still on zero, but at least they\u2019re living up to their name with style. Maybe tomorrow\u2019s matches will finally uncork some points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"490\" height=\"665\" src=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1864\" srcset=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-1.png 490w, http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-1-221x300.png 221w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"490\" height=\"633\" src=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1866\" srcset=\"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-3.png 490w, http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/image-3-232x300.png 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 24 May 2026, Roland Garros opened with fireworks: Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev advanced smoothly, while Nishesh Basavareddy stunned 7th seed Taylor Fritz in one of the biggest upsets of the day. The women\u2019s draw saw Belinda Bencic and other seeds progress, with Iga Swiatek scheduled for her opener the following day. \ud83c\udfbe Men\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roland-garros-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1871,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions\/1871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eishonline.co.za\/jftl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}