DAY three of the 2020 Roland Garros saw the remainder of the Round of 128 finish up their matches, with some predictable top seeds in Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin and Aryna Sabalenka making their way through to the second round although the former two had to fight back after strong showings from their opposition.

The longest match of the day – and ultimately one of the biggest upsets too – went to the battle between 21st seed Jennifer Brady and Danish teenager Clara Tauson, seeing the 17-year-old come away with a 6-4 3-6 9-7 victory in a whopping two hours and 45 minutes on court in her grand slam debut and only her second appearance on the WTA Tour. 

“We played an amazing match today, probably the highest-quality tennis I’ve ever played in my life,” Tauson said post-match. “I was just grateful to be there and just happy that I could play a girl like her on a big court. It was a dream come true, of course, and then winning the match, I don’t have any words yet. It was so great, I’ve never really experienced a match like that.”

The youngster may have topped the unforced error tally with 46, but she also hit 48 winners to Brady’s 39, also coming away with a better winning ratio on break points. The final set took almost 70 minutes to decide, with neither player willing to back down and Tauson able to weather the storm after a couple of early opportunities prior to the tiebreaker. 

Other seeded upsets on the day came from Irina Bara – who defeated 26th seed Donna Vekic 6-3 6-4 – and Julia Goerges – who defeated 19th seed Alison Riske in a huge 6-3 6-7 6-1 battle in two hours and 17 minutes. Meanwhile, Qualifier Mayar Sherif put Pliskova through her paces in the first set, taking out the first set tiebreaker before Plskova bit back in the second to steal momentum. Despite a better third set, Sherif could not compete with the Czech second seed, seeing Pliskova run away victory 6-7 6-2 6-4 in two hours and 15 minutes. Liudmila Samsonova also got a good look in against Australian Open champion Kenin, stealing the second set after a tight first set before Kenin came out flying in the third to come out victor in just under two hours. 

Sabalenka was much more convincing in her 6-3 6-1 victory over American Jessica Pegula, claiming the early ascendancy before dominating the second set. 14th seed Elena Rybakina was clinical against Sorana Cirstea in a 6-0 6-3 demolition in 65 minutes, while 29th seed Sloane Stephens continued her solid form with a 66-minute 6-2 6-2 victory over Vitalia Diatchenko. 30th seed Ons Jabeur overcame a difficult start against Kazakh Zarina Diyas for a three set 4-6 6-3 6-1 finish, while the final seeded match saw 13th seed Petra Martic deal with a tough effort from Japanese talent Misaki Doi who was relentless in pursuit, seeing Martic come away with a 7-6 7-5 victory in an hour and 48 minutes.

Doi’s compatriot Nao Hibino continued her excellent run of form with a 6-4 6-0 victory over qualifier Marta Kostyuk in just 58 minutes – the quickest of the day – while in other unseeded matchups Alison van Uytvanck, Jelena Ostapenko, Paula Badosa, Danielle Collins, Daria Kasatkina, Ana Bogdan, Veronika Kudermetova, Fiona Ferro and Laura Siegemund all joined the winners list.