ORDER OF PLAY
COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN -- 11:00 a.m. start
[4] Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) / Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE) vs. [2] Timea BABOS (HUN) / Kristina MLADENOVIC (FRA)
followed by
[14] Alexa GUARACHI (CHL) / Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA) vs. Nicole MELICHAR (USA) / Iga SWIATEK (POL)
For the Order of Play in full, visit rolandgarros.com.
LEARNING
Two contrasting semifinals are on tap in the women's doubles draw on Friday, as a pair of Grand Slam-winning teams play the first semifinal and two teams seeking their first Grand Slam final together play the second.
First up, defending champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic take on 2018 winners Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova for a spot in the final. They have not played since the championship match at the WTA Finals back in 2018, won by the Hungarian and Frenchwoman in straight sets.
The Czechs are chasing their third career Grand Slam title together, with Siniakova playing for her fourth overall, while Babos and Mladenovic are bidding to advance to a seventh showpiece match at a major together.
American Nicole Melichar is the only one of the four players in the second semifinal who's contested a Grand Slam doubles final before, having done so with Kveta Peschke at Wimbledon in 2018 and Xu Yifan earlier this summer at the US Open.
Poland's Iga Swiatek is the first player to reach the singles and doubles semifinals in Paris since Lucie Safarova did so in 2015. The Czech finished as the singles runner-up to Serena Williams that year and won the doubles title with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. With Swiatek now into the women's singles final, she can continue to eye something that hasn't been done by a WTA player in 20 years.
No woman since France's Mary Pierce in 2000 has won both the singles and doubles titles at the French Open in the same year, and the last woman to win a singles and doubles title at any Grand Slam was Serena Williams in 2016.
Chile's Alexa Guarachi and American Desirae Krawczyk are also in the midst of a Cinderella run in Paris. Having never advanced beyond the third round of a Grand Slam with any partner previously, the No. 14 seeds have knocked off two higher-seeded pairs so far this fortnight: No.1 seeds Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-wei in the third round and No.7 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara in the quarterfinals.
WEATHER
Rain is in the forecast in Paris, beginning early and projected to taper off later. Maximum temperature: 16C/60F.
TRENDING
🤗Teamwork makes the dream work.😉Great job today @nicole_melichar Thank you!🤗#rolandgarros #doubles #semifinal pic.twitter.com/ge2fNdu1mz
— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) October 7, 2020
READING
After tearing her ACL in 2015 following her graduation from the University of Alabama, hear more from Guarachi, who's also been making history for Chilean women's tennis so far this fortnight.
Swiatek and Melichar were a last-minute pairing in the draw, coming together when the American's usual partner, Xu Yifan of China, was unable to secure a visa in time. Melichar and Xu defeated Swiatek and Viktoria Kuzmova in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open in New York, and the two-time Grand Slam doubles finalist revealed to rolandgarros.com that she first took notice of Swiatek's doubles prowess there.
As Swiatek bids to reach a second Grand Slam final in as many days, WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen caught up with the sports psychologist who has helped Swiatek make her dreams come true in Paris.
It's been an emotional fortnight in more ways than one for Krejcikova, who reached the fourth round of the singles tournament on what would've been her late former coach and mentor Jana Novotna's 52nd birthday.
WATCHING
