Second seed Aryna Sabalenka temporarily put her friendship with Spaniard Paula Badosa on the back burner to secure a hard-fought 7-5, 6-1 third-round victory at the French Open on Saturday and keep alive her hopes of a maiden Roland Garros title.

The pair have enjoyed a strong bond since 2021 but there was no quarter given on Saturday.

“It’s tough to play your best friend. She’s an incredible player coming back after injury and I’m pretty sure she’s going to be back on top very soon,” said Sabalenka, who improved her head-to-head record with Badosa to 5-2.

“On court we’re opponents, I’m trying not to watch on the other side, just trying to focus on myself and just bring my best game, but anyway they’re tough matches against her.”

“Some days it’s actually getting more complicated to play,” Sabalenka said of the variety in her game.

World No.4 Elena Rybakina continued to fly under the radar as she enjoyed a routine 6-4, 6-2 win over Belgium’s Elise Mertens. Rybakina, a former Wimbledon champion, is looking to improve on her best performance of a quarter-finalist on the Paris red clay, in 2021.

Medvedev rallies

Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev beat Tomas Machac 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in an exhilarating clash under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Saturday to move into the last 16.

Machac was in the limelight last month when he stunned world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the Geneva Open semi-finals. He pushed Medvedev in a match lasting nearly three-and-a-half hours.

World No.4 Alexander Zverev survived a marathon match to beat Tallon Griekspoor 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) on Saturday.

Zverev, semi-finalist for the last three years, had not dropped a set in his opening two matches, including a first-round win over Rafael Nadal, but he was on the back foot when the Dutch 26th seed won the opening set.

The German finally broke serve when leading 5-4 in the second to level the match and made lighter work of the third set and when Griekspoor took a medical timeout it appeared that Zverev would have little trouble closing out victory.

The Dutch 27-year-old forced a deciding set, however, and held a 4-1 advantage after two breaks of serve before Zverev roared back to win four consecutive games.

Griekspoor kept his nerve to force a tiebreak, but after an enthralling match lasting over four hours, it was Zverev who fired down an ace to clinch the tie-break.

Third seed Carlos Alcaraz sparkled and showed steely resolve in his most convincing match here this year for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over American Sebastian Korda to reach the fourth round on Friday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round on Friday.

Ben Shelton’s painful shoulder prevented him from playing his best in a 4-6, 2-6, 1-6third-round loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Balaji advances

India’s N Sriram Balaji booked his maiden French Open pre-quarter finals berth as he and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez beat the pair of Dan Added and Theo Arribage in three sets here on Saturday.

The Indo-Mexican duo beat their French opponents 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round match that lasted one hour and 42 minutes. Balaji is likely to be Rohan Bopanna’s choice for the Paris Olympics doubles team.