Whether this makes a difference will be seen in the coming days with so many players complaining about the noise- seriously, this feels a little pathetic to me, but you cannot blame the organisers for wanting to make things a bit more comfortable for those on the court.
Rain has been the bigger issue at the event and Day 6 of the tournament has been given an earlier start time with the feeling that some Second Round matches will yet to be completed. The weather looks better as we close in on the second week at Roland Garros so hopefully all will be back on schedule by Friday evening.
Andrey Rublev - 5.5 games v Matteo Arnaldi: A chance to reach the second week of a Grand Slam will underline the continued progress being made by Matteo Arnaldi who is playing at a career high World Ranking mark. The Italian is very comfortable on the clay courts, although it has perhaps not been as strong a season on the surface as he would have liked.
Two wins in Paris will make him feel better all around about where his tennis stands and Matteo Arnaldi has shown he can handle some pressure by beating two Frenchmen at the French Open.
The first of those wins was also against a Seeded player and Matteo Arnaldi will have to use that win to give him some confidence heading into this Third Round match. He will need all of the help he needs when taking on Andrey Rublev who has quietly been going about his business at the French Open again.
He looks to be in the half of the draw where Andrey Rublev could finally move beyond the Quarter Final at a Grand Slam and this is a player who has long been able to beat those he is expected to, while coming up short against some of the elite players on the Tour.
As mentioned earlier this week, Andrey Rublev has not had the best results on the clay courts, but the numbers have remained strong. He showed that in his win over Pedro Martinez in the last Round and Rublev is certainly capable of getting the better of Matteo Arnaldi, even on the favoured surface for the latter.
Their sole previous match ended in a routine win for Andrey Rublev, although that was on the hard courts, and he can certainly do enough to make this a relatively comfortable day in the office too.
Coco Gauff - 5.5 games v Dayana Yastremska: She had to Qualify for the Australian Open in January, but a stunning run has pushed Dayana Yastremska into the top 32 of the World Rankings and that means direct entry into the remaining Grand Slams of the 2024 season.
Despite a relatively poor clay court season, Dayana Yastremska has made her way through to the Third Round at the French Open and she dominated her last opponent. Things were tougher in the First Round when the Ukrainian had to come from a set behind to beat Alja Tomljanovic, and this is a considerable step upwards in terms of quality of opponent.
Despite a relatively poor clay court season, Dayana Yastremska has made her way through to the Third Round at the French Open and she dominated her last opponent. Things were tougher in the First Round when the Ukrainian had to come from a set behind to beat Alja Tomljanovic, and this is a considerable step upwards in terms of quality of opponent.
A place on the show courts will be next up for Yastremska when she faces Coco Gauff, who had a tougher than expected Second Round win.
However, a win is a win and the American is very comfortable on the clay courts with each of her last two French Open runs ended at the hands of Iga Swiatek. The World Number 1 was in the way again when Coco Gauff was beaten in the Rome Semi Final and it is very likely that the young American is going to have to find a way to get past her in this tournament.
For now the focus has to be on continuing to win matches as the US Open Champion looks to add another Grand Slam to her collection.
Outside of matches against Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff has continued to display her clay court qualities and the expectation is that she can do the same in this Third Round match.
When she met Dayana Yastremska in Madrid, Coco Gauff was a comfortable winner having gotten through a tough opening set and something similar is expected to happen here. The Ukrainian has also been well beaten by Aryna Sabalenka this season on this surface and it does feel that Yastremska is still way behind the elite players on the clay, a category that Coco Gauff belongs to.
It may not be quite as wide as the win in Madrid, but Coco Gauff can still make it wide enough to cover this mark on her way into the second week of the tournament.
Marketa Vondrousova - 5.5 games v Chloe Paquet: When these two players last met on the Tour, both Chloe Paquet and Marketa Vondrousova were Ranked way outside the top 200 and winning Grand Slam matches, never mind titles, would have felt a long way away.
Out of the two players, it is Marketa Vondrousova who has really grown into one of the better players on the Tour and she is a big favourite in this Third Round match.
The crowds have been able to get involved in matches and rattle players and that may be the biggest challenge for Vondrousova with the home fans likely to be very much behind Chloe Paquet. However, decisions have been made by the organisers to limit the kind of interactions we have been seeing and that should only benefit Vondrousova in her bid to reach the second week at the French Open again.
She has the qualities to beat Chloe Paquet, although the Frenchwoman should be respected for battling through her Second Round match. Two tie-breakers were needed against Katerina Siniakova after dropping the first set, but it has to be a question of how much Paquet left on the court in order to overcome that opponent.
Beating a Seed will give her belief, while Chloe Paquet was a dominant First Round winner.
There is also the factor that Marketa Vondrousova had to come from behind to win her own Second Round match, although it was a less taxing win all in all and that should help the Czech player.
Covering this kind of number is never easy for someone like Vondrousova, but she did that for us in the First Round and the feeling is that she will be able to weather an early storm before taking control of the match. Handling the emotion of the occasion might be challenging, but Marketa Vondrousova won the Wimbledon title against a crowd favourite last year and that kind of quality can help her past Chloe Paquet into the second week on Friday.
MY PICKS: Andrey Rublev - 5.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Coco Gauff - 5.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet365 (2 Units)
Marketa Vondrousova - 5.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet365 (2 Units)
French Open Update: 9-3, + 8.20 Units (24 Units Staked, + 34.17% Yield)
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