Five days remain in Paris at the second Grand Slam of the season, but the Singles events have moved into the Quarter Final Round and that means the number of matches per day are down to four.
Two men's and two women's matches are scheduled for Day 10 at Roland Garros.
There is a narrow lean towards Carlos Alcaraz finding a way to wear down Tommy Paul and cover a big line, but Frances Tiafoe is playing well enough to believe he can push Lorenzo Musetti and get within the number set.
As has been the case over the last few days, my thoughts are an indication of where my Picks would have leaned, even though the Picks had been shut down for a few days.
Iga Swiatek - 4.5 games v Elina Svitolina: She may be the multiple time former French Open Champion, but Iga Swiatek is going to have to deal with what is expected to be a crowd that is fully behind honorary Frenchwoman Elina Svitolina in this Quarter Final.
Some players do want to feel the love from the crowd, but Iga Swiatek perhaps does not strike me as one of those and her Fourth Round win over Elena Rybakina will have given her a lot of confidence. This has not been the best of seasons so far for Iga Swiatek, and her clay court performances have been way below the kind of standards she has set on the surface, but that win over Rybakina is a real reminder of the kind of aura the former World Number 1 will continue to hold whenever she steps onto this court.
Elena Rybakina will be kicking herself, but Iga Swiatek can build on that victory having produced some solid, if unspectacular, tennis to move through the draw into the second week.
She had been serving well before being pushed all the way by a big hitting Elena Rybakina in the Fourth Round and there is a feeling that a match up like this one will suit Iga Swiatek so much more.
Instead of feeling like she is being powered off of the court, Iga Swiatek is likely going to be involved in more comfortable rallies and that should aid her in her bid to reach yet another French Open Semi Final. The serve will still be attacked by Elina Svitolina, but perhaps not as effectively as an aggressive Rybakina was able to do, and this should help the Number 5 Seed.
It also should be noted that nothing much has come easy for Elina Svitolina in her run in Paris and all of the tennis she has needed to play could produce some level of accumulated fatigue. In only one of the four wins produced in Paris has Svitolina created more Break Points compared with her opponent and she could have easily been beaten in straight sets in her Fourth Round win over Jasmine Paolini.
If she is going to earn the upset, the serve has to improve significantly, but that may be asking too much considering how much success Iga Swiatek has had on the return against Elina Svitolina. The second serve in particularly has been exploited by the former World Number 1 and the feeling is that Iga Swiatek is going to have all of the tools at her disposal to secure a relatively comfortable passage into the next Round.
The favourite will also feel there is room for improvement after the Fourth Round win, but this is a match up where Iga Swiatek is unlikely to feel the racquet is out of her hands as much as it did against Elena Rybakina and it should lead to the breaks needed to cover the line set.
Aryna Sabalenka - 3.5 games v Qinwen Zheng: A real rivalry in tennis can only be formed if it does not end up being a one-sided head to head and so it feels very important for Qinwen Zheng to have secured a victory over Aryna Sabalenka earlier this month.
That occurred in Rome, on the clay courts, and all of a sudden there will be plenty ready to back the Olympic Gold Medal winner to come through and earn her spot in the Semi Final at the French Open.
Big wins on this court are not unfamiliar to Qinwen Zheng having beaten Iga Swiatek right here on the way to winning the Gold Medal at the Paris Olympic Games last summer. That is about as big a challenge as anyone could face on the clay courts on the WTA Tour and so Qinwen Zheng is not going to be lacking for confidence.
She may feel she has nothing to lose after almost being beaten in the Fourth Round and the ability to battle through those difficult moments will help a player desperate to win a maiden Grand Slam title. Prior to the win over Liudmila Samsonova, Qinwen Zheng had been making her way through the French Open draw impressively and she will certainly not be afraid to beat Aryna Sabalenka for a second straight time on the clay.
However, Aryna Sabalenka has certainly been playing at a consistently high level in her run to the Quarter Final and the World Number 1 has yet to drop a set.
The Belarusian has not had to spend nearly as much time on the court as her opponent and Aryna Sabalenka's numbers on the serve and return have been impressive. She will expect to be given another stern test by Qinwen Zheng, but Aryna Sabalenka may feel she cannot be as poor as she was in Rome and will believe to be in better shape having played that tournament just days after winning the Madrid Masters.
Recent matches between these two top 10 rivals have been much more competitive on the court, if not the scoreboard, and that will offer the lower Ranked player confidence in her bid to earn the upset.
However, the overall performances of the two players here in Paris means the lean has to be with Aryna Sabalenka, just as long as she is a bit more composed when the Break Points come her way compared with the Fourth Round win.
MY PICKS: Iga Swiatek - 4.5 Games
Aryna Sabalenka - 3.5 Games
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