French Open 2020: Pliskova beats Sherif, plus Djokovic in action – live!

17 year old Clara Tauson produces the biggest win of her career, saving double match point to upset US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady 6-4 3-6 8-6. Not a bad way to clinch a first slam match and win.

A brilliant attacking performance from Tauson, who hit 48(!) winners. However, even more impressive was her showing her mettle by saving double match point and then, unlike Brady, immediately recovering after she squandered three of her own. Down break point in the final game, she produced an astounding forehand to scupper the danger and she eventually got it done.

Just one slam after Caroline Wozniacki’s retirement, Denmark has a new idol. We will be seeing much more of her.

That was just impressive. After saving two match points and then squandering three match points, Clara Tauson breaks Jennifer Brady’s serve and she will have another opportunity to serve out the match after a long deuce game. This time, the 17 year-old Dane continued to attack but she made her targets bigger and cut down on her errors. Composure beyond her years. Brady 4-6 6-3 7-8* Tauson.

The drama continues as US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady saves three match points to push Clara Tauson back to 7-7 in the third set.

After winning 10 of 12 points from being two match points down herself, Tauson stepped up at 40-15 and made two overzealous unforced errors. On the third, Brady came up with a bold drop shot to keep herself alive.

In the long deuce game that followed, Brady kept her depth, refused to miss and took advantage of a nervous Tauson to break. We go on.

Incredible work from Clara Tauson, who carried her momentum from the saved match points before breaking serve to 15 by crunching a series of huge backhands. She will now serve for the match against US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady at *7-6 in the third.

Extra innings over on Simonne-Mathieu as 17 year-old Dane Clara Tauson just saved double match point to push 21st seed Jennifer Brady to 6-6 in the third set. Bold play from the youngster under pressure, touching multiple lines on the match points before holding with a huge forehand. Brady 4-6 6-3 6-6 Tauson.

Junior Australian Open champion Harold Mayot is making his slam debut today against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The 18 year-old Frenchman lead 5-2 before losing the first set on a tight tiebreak. On the set point, Fokina blasted a ball straight at Mayot before screaming in glee as he clinched the set. The unspoken message: Welcome to the pros.

“I had a couple of set points,” says Karolina Pliskova in her interview with former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. Just 8.

What a delightful slam debut from Mayar Sherif, the first Egyptian woman to ever compete in a slam main draw. With her spinny forehand, great movement and resourcefulness with ample drop shots, she has made life hell for Pliskova and she refused to let up even after the Czech levelled the match. We will see more of her over the coming years and it would be great if she can inspire more Egyptian and African players to follow.

For Pliskova, a good recovery after failing to convert 8 set points in that horror first set. Life does not get much easier for her – she faces 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko in the second round, who was in great form today.

Karolina Pliskova backs up the break with a quick love hold filled with huge serving. She is game away. Pliskova 6-7(9) 6-2 5-3* Sherif.

It took a long, long game of 6 break points, strong resistance from Mayar Sherif and mounting frustration for Karolina Pliskova, but the second seed finally breaks to move up a break in the final set. Pliskova 6-7(9) 6-2 *4-3 Sherif.

Mayar Sherif continues to keep herself level with Karolina Pliskova on Chatrier. Some tense moments for the Egyptian in at 2-2 and 30-30, but Pliskova produced a couple of untimely errors to keep Sherif ahead.

Pliskova responded with a quick hold to put the pressure straight back on the Egyptian. Pliskova 6-7(9) 6-2 3-3* Sherif.

7th seed Matteo Berrettini moves on with ease, beating Vasek Pospisil 6-3 6-1 6-3.

Mayar Sherif is fighting hard on Chatrier and she is rewarded with a hold to retain her early 2-1 lead in the third set against Karolina Pliskova.

A great move to seal the hold – after a heavy forehand down the line, Sherif moved into the net and picked off a great volley at full stretch after Pliskova attempted to drill a backhand down the line passing shot. With her momenum gone, Pliskova has to be careful here. Pliskova 6-7(9) 6-2 *1-2 Sherif.

Heather Watson is a set away from taking to court 14 against Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro. She follows Marc Polmans and Ugo Humbert. Polmans leads 6-2 6-2.

This has been a great turnaround from Karolina Pliskova, who has quickly made amends for failing to convert 8 set points in a horror first set performance by efficiently pushing Mayar Sherif to a third set. Let’s see what the Egyptian challenger has left to give. Pliskova 6-7(9) 6-2 Sherif.

One of the weirdest stats in tennis is resolved as 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko reaches the second round of Roland Garros for the first time outside of that delirious run to the title. She did so with style, beating Madison Brengle of the United States 6-2 6-1.

It has been a tough few years for Ostapenko since her title. After reaching a career high of 5 in March 2018, she fell as low as 82nd by last year. She has struggled with the pressure of her success and also her high-risk, unstable game that can hit anyone off the court on any given day, but can also spend long periods firing at the back fence.

Ostapenko was slowly finding some kind of form last year and one suspects that at some point her explosive game will randomly catch fire again. This could be a good opportunity to see where she is at – she faces the winner of the match between Karolina Pliskova and Mayar Sherif in the second round.

Karolina Pliskova looks like she is back on track. The second seed has cut out her unforced errors now leads Mayar Sherif by a double break, 6-7(9) *4-1.

Over on Lenglen, Vasek Pospisil continues his running commentary while being flattened by 7th seed Matteo Berrettini. He just said that he “threw away” the first two sets by being too defensive. Whatever the reason, Berrettini leads 6-3 6-1 *0-1.

Karolina Pliskova has recovered well in the second set. After the pair traded three consecutive breaks to open the set, she has broken away with a hold to love, sealed with a serve-backhand 1-2 punch. Pliskova 6-7(9) 3-1 Sherif.

There is another upset alert on Simonne-Mathieu as 17 year-old Dane Clara Tauson leads 6-4 1-2* on 21st seed Jennifer Brady, who reached the semi-final of the US Open a few weeks ago.

Denmark is a small country without much of a tennis culture and so very few players have ever made it to the top 100 of either men’s or women’s tours. It feels right that the player to succeed the recently retired Caroline Wozniacki, a defensive player who hated clay and struggled with her forehand throughout her career, is an attacking player with a huge forehand who is breaking through on clay.

Mayar Sherif saves a total of eight set points to take the first set 7-6(9) on Karolina Pliskova. Incredible scenes appropriately sealed with a horror overhead from the second seed.

This has been an incredible effort from No 172 Sherif, who would have had every reason to be overwhelmed on a stage far greater than anything she has ever experienced. Instead, she has fought hard while demonstrating intelligence and resourcefulness under pressure.

Across the net, this has been a been a horror from Karolina Pliskova, summed up by her moving to 6-3 in the tiebreak and then losing three points in a row with two bad backhand errors and then a double fault.

A reminder of Mayar Sherif’s inexperience at this level: she is ranked 172, she only started to compete full time last year and rose from no ranking into the top 200 in only 5 months.

Sherif has only ever played 4 top 100 opponents and her highest ranked opponent was ranked 38. No matter, she is a great athlete with a tricky, spinny forehand, some nice variety and a lot of court sense. Now she is battling the third ranked player on one of the biggest stages in the world.

Much better work from Karolina Pliskova, who stepped into the court and buried a couple of forehand down-the-line winners to break back at the death. Pliskova looked to just be finding her range before she lost her serve at 5-5, so there was no reason to panic. Pliskova 6-6 Sherif.

After saving three set points, it’s Mayar Sherif who rolls with the momentum to break for *6-5. She will serve for the opening set against Karolina Pliskova.

On Chatrier, No 172 Mayar Sherif continues to put up some great opposition for second seed Karolina Pliskova. She just saved three set points to hold for 5-5.

Although Pliskova should have done much better on a couple of them, Sherif produced a bold, gutsy drop shot on the second. This is Sherif’s first ever match at this level and she does not look at all overawed.

Once again, it is beginning to rain in Paris and with miserable weather comes miserable tennis players. Vasek Pospisil: “Worst conditions in the world.”

Italian 7th seed Matteo Berrettini is up *3-2 and an early break on Vasek Pospisil of Canada. Likewise, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia leads Madison Brengle *3-2.

Meanwhile, Karen Khachanov and Nick Kyrgios have been going back and forth over the Australian’s social media conduct. This is all quite bizarre considering, of all the disagreeable things Kyrgios has ever said, defending his friend Andy Murray against some quite spiteful comments by Mats Wilander isn’t exactly high on the list.

Mayar Sherif is holding her ground in the early stages on Chatrier, easing through her opening two service games to level Karolina Pliskova at 2-2.

Up first on Chatrier is a really interesting story as Mayar Sherif becomes the first Egyptian woman to reach a slam main draw after coming through qualifying. She has received plenty of support from Mo Salah this week.

24 year-old Sherif plotted her route to Roland Garros through college in the United States. She was unranked last year and she has quickly risen up the rankings since she finished college. Reem Abulleil covered the story of Sherif and other Arab players using college as a pathway to the professional tour last year.

Today’s order of play on the main courts:

Court Philippe Chatrier:

• Mayar Sherif vs Karolina Pliskova
• Laura Siegemund vs Kristina Mladenovic
• [1] Novak Djokovic vs Mikael Ymer
• [9] Denis Shapovalov vs Gilles Simon

Court Suzanne Lenglen

• Vasek Pospisil vs [7] Matteo Berrettini
• Liudmilla Samsonova vs [4] Sofia Kenin
• Jaume Munar vs [5] Stefanos Tsitsipas
• [8] Aryna Sabalenka vs Jessica Pegula

Court Simonne-Mathieu

• [21] Jennifer Brady vs Clara Tauson
• Sam Querrey vs [13] Andrey Rublev
• [10] Roberto Bautista Agut vs Richard Gasquet
• [WC] Pauline Parmentier vs Veronika Kudermetova

As Britain searches for its first singles win of the tournament, we are down to our final player. Heather Watson faces the extremely tricky Fiona Ferro of France second up on court 14.

Hello! Welcome to day three of our Roland Garros coverage as this marathon three-day first round finally comes to an end. In action will be top men’s seed Novak Djokovic, women’s second seed Karolina Pliskova, Denis Shapovalov, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev.

Beyond the top seeds and champions, Tsitsipas and Rublev will be of particular interest since they will have to navigate a very unique situation in order to make a deep run in Paris.

As play began on Sunday, Rublev and Tsitsipas were competing 750 kilometres away in the ATP Hamburg Final. After Rublev edged out Tsitsipas for his first ever ATP 500 title, both players had to travel straight to Paris and, it appears that they had to quarantine for 24 hours while awaiting a negative COVID-19 test. They would have only started preparing for their matches on Monday evening. How will they fare?