Raphael Nadal 

The 37-year-old Federer held off a persistent world number 144 Otte, saving all four break points he faced in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Next up for the 20-time Grand Slam title winner is a clash with Norway’s Casper Ruud who put out Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

“The Grand Slams are incredible. You can meet a player who qualified who (you) have not heard of before,” said Federer, who last played at Roland Garros in 2015.

“It was difficult, he really played a great match.”

Federer’s only French Open trophy came in 2009, and 10 years on he faces a daunting task to grab a second, potentially needing to beat Tsitsipas, Nadal and world number one Novak Djokovic in order to come out on top.

Nadal continued the strong start to his bid for a record-extending 12th title with a comfortable victory over German qualifier Yannick Maden.

The 32-year-old Nadal was in near total control against world number 114 Maden bar some nervy moments in the third set, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

The 17-time major champion will play Belgian 27th seed David Goffin in the last 32.

“He (Maden) is a good player. He had already won four matches so was full of confidence,” said Nadal, whose Roland Garros win-loss record now reads an incredible 88-2.

The Spaniard wasted little time in wrapping up the first two sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Maden may have briefly allowed himself to dream of an outrageous upset when he twice broke to level at 3-3 and then 4-4 in the third set, but Nadal put him back in his place with two quick games to seal victory.

Nadal appears to be hitting form at just the right time, after following three consecutive semi-final defeats on clay with the Italian Open title before arriving in Paris.

He finished the match with 43 winners against just 23 unforced errors.

– Bertens ‘shaking and no enegry’ –

Dutch women’s fourth seed Kiki Bertens retired from her match with Viktoria Kuzmova with illness while trailing 3-1, 40-15.

The 27-year-old, one of the favourites for the tournament, complained of shaking and a lack of energy before calling it quits, leaving Kuzmova with a third-round clash against British 26th seed Johanna Konta.

Greek star Tsitsipas did not have things all his own way against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien on Court Simonne Mathieu, but managed to grind out a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory on his fourth match point.

The sixth seed, who beat Federer en route to the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year, will take on Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic in his maiden appearance in the third round.

“Once I got myself into the right mindset, things seemed to flow my way,” said 20-year-old Tsitsipas.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka showed that he can not be ruled out of contention with an impressive 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 success against in-form Chilean Cristian Garin.

The Swiss will play Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov next, after the former world number three beat 11th seed Marin Cilic in a marathon encounter 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

– Svitolina gets walkover –

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina will face 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza in the third round after the ninth seed’s compatriot Kateryna Kozlova pulled out before their match with a viral infection.

Spain’s Muguruza, seeded 19th this year, eased to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Swede Johanna Larsson.

Second seed Karolina Pliskova also clinched a straight-sets win, beating Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-2, 6-2 to set up a tie with Croatian 31st seed Petra Martic.

Last year’s runner-up Sloane Stephens cruised through with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) win over Sara Sorribes Tormo.

The former US Open champion, who lost to Simona Halep in the 2018 French Open final, will play Slovenia’s Polona Hercog next after she edged out American Jennifer Brady 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-4.

“I am really very happy but the trophy is very important for the club. The name of the player and coach is less important,” Sarri said after Chelsea blew away their London rivals in the second half to win 4-1.

The victory caps a season in which they finished third in the Premier League to secure a return to the Champions League before coming into this match. Despite that, Sarri has been strongly linked with a return to Italy this summer with Juventus.

“Of course the trophy is very important because we were in trouble in January and February and then we reacted.

“It is not easy to do that in the Premier League because the level is really very high.

“In the end we got into the Champions League, we played the final of the League Cup and lost on penalties to Manchester City, and in the Europa League we played 15 matches and won 12 and drew three so I think we deserved to win it.”

Eden Hazard scored twice, including from the penalty spot, after Olivier Giroud and Pedro Rodriguez had netted to put the Blues in control in Azerbaijan.

Sarri added: “It is very important for me but I am really very happy for my players.”

There was disappointment for Arsenal coach Unai Emery as his side suffered a bruising final defeat that also means they will miss out on the Champions League again next season for the third year running.

“We knew it was going to be difficult to take our first target,” Emery said, referring to Champions League qualification.

“In the Premer League we were closer to achieving that but we lost out by one or two points to the other teams like Tottenham and Chelsea.

“The Europa League was another way. We tried and we worked, but congratulations to Chelsea. They are now better than us.”

Emery had been hoping to win this competition for the fourth time after three consecutive victories with Sevilla from 2014 to 2016.

“In the first half we had possibilities, some chances to score, and didn’t concede a lot to them.

“In the second half our idea was the same, to carry on our game plan, but they scored the first goal and that was very important in this match.

“They have very good players, and we played with some young players. We knew it was going to be difficult.”

After losing their first warm-up to World Cup hosts France 3-0 in Orleans on Saturday, Thailand now face tune-ups against Belgium on Sunday and Kontich FC in Leuven next Wednesday.

The Thai team are in training at the OHL King Power training ground in Leuven, Belgium amid unfamiliar chilly temperatures of 13 degrees Centigrade. National coach Nuengruethai Srathongwien is trying to shore up weaknesses from the match with Les Bleus.

“We are still focusing on the defensive game but we also working out a pressing approach and midfield strategy,” said Nungruethai, who has been coach since the World Cup in Canada four years ago.

“Against Belgium, we hope to play better than the last game. We need to get a draw or even to win in order to gain confidence going into the World Cup,” added the manager.

The team also has to adjust to temperatures that are far cooler than the 30C they left behind in Thailand.

“The weather will be one factor that will affect us during the game. It’s quite cool and there is rain in the afternoon. The girls still have a few more days to get used to the conditions,” Nuengruethai added.

Thailand will make their second appearance in the World Cup after their 2015 debut ended at the group stage.

They kick off their campaign in Group F against world No 1 and defending champions USA on June 12 before taking on world No 9 Sweden on June 16 and Chile on June 21. – The Nation

Nine holes later, that advantage had totally evaporated. The Thai needed four play-off holes to defeat Kim Hyo-joo and cement perhaps the biggest mental comeback in her professional career.

“I played absolutely great on the front nine. It was unbelievable. I felt like I’m never going to play that good again,” said Ariya when asked about that day in Alabama.

“And then at the turn on No 10, all I’m thinking about [is] I have a seven-shot lead. I’m going to keep the seven-shot lead until the last hole. It should be easy for me to win the tournament. But that’s not a good way to think about that.”

Ariya’s win 12 months ago was among the most memorable moments in LPGA history. Today, she’s in Charleston to defend her title, along with 11 other past US Women’s Open champions – Na Yeon Choi (2012), In Gee Chun (2015), Paula Creamer (2010), Laura Davies (1987), Ji Eun-hee (2009), Cristie Kerr (2007), Brittany Lang (2016), Inbee Park (2008, 2013), Sung Hyun Park (2017), So Yeon Ryu (2011) and Karrie Webb (2000, 2001).

Ariya is still looking for her first victory of the 2019 season. So far it’s been a quiet season for the 23-year-old from Thailand, who has just two top-10 finishes to her name but hasn’t missed a single cut in her 11 tournament appearances. She is ready for the challenge of Charleston’s Country Club course, a Seth Raynor design that’s much trickier than it appears to the naked eye.

“The first few holes … I feel like actually, it’s pretty wide open. So it might be not that tough,” said Ariya, who starts her title defence at 8.06am local time (7.06pm Thai time) today. “But then when you keep playing and you see some holes out there, like short par 4, it’s really narrow. You have to put your ball in the right spot.”

Ariya will tee off on the 10th hole alongside 2017 US Women’s Open champion Park Sung-hyun and leading American Lexi Thompson.

Utilising superior teamwork and accuracy, Thailand won the fifth match in the League series 25-21 19-25 25-19 25-20 and bounced back from successive losses to Italy and Poland in Poland last week, and to China on Tuesday. They had previously won last week’s opening match with Germany.

They will face Belgium at 3.30pm today in their the final Pool 7 match before returning home for Pool 11 at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium from June 4-6.

Thailand coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul said: “Today we faced a Korea team with lots of young and energetic players. Their serves are really powerful and they have great pace. Our team showed great team spirit today and this definitely helped us to win this tight match.”

Thailand captain Nootsara Tomkom said: “Korea gave us a hard game today with their strong serves. We had problems with our reception in the last match but fortunately we made improvements today, which allowed us to string some good attacks especially in the crucial sets three and four.”

Korea coach Stefano Lavarini said: “I felt very happy to play against Thailand because their team play in a unique style and playing them can make us improve. We did not start the match well, got better in the second set, then Thailand started giving us more pressure in the third and fourth sets. They showed their quality and fighting spirit and totally deserved to win. The only disappointment I have today is that we did not show the same mentality and could not perform at the same level like yesterday. Congratulations again to Thailand team and we will do our best to keep playing at a high level.”

Sentosa, Singapore, May 29: The first half of the 2019 Asian Tour season will be best remembered for thrusting the region’s best and promising players into the global spotlight.

A place where it all begins, the Asian Tour Qualifying School has always been the launchpad for aspiring golfers as they embark on their professional careers and chase their golfing dreams.

And it did not take long for the likes of rookies such as Zach Murray and Sadom Kaewkanjana to create ripples in the golfing world with their respective wins at the New Zealand Open and Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in Bangladesh.

At the season-opening event in January, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond found his winning rhythm again when he outclassed a host of quality players including Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Davis Love III to lift the iconic SMBC Singapore Open trophy for his third Asian Tour title.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox then produced a dominant performance in the final match by beating Spain’s Adrian Otaegui 3&2 to lift the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth trophy the following month.

Like the unique formats of the popular ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth and New Zealand Open which have been a huge success, Murray also endeared himself to the crowd when he signaled his arrival on the biggest stage by becoming the third fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour in March.

Murray’s wire-to-wire victory, which saw him being crowned as the newest champion of the New Zealand Open was made even sweeter as it was his first professional win, achieved in what was only his third start on the Asian Tour.

Victory at the Maybank Championship in March was especially special for Australian Scott Hend as he cemented his status as the most successful international golfer on the Asian Tour when he claimed his 10th victory in Malaysia.

Hend’s play-off victory over Spain’s Nacho Elvira was his first in three years since he last won in 2016. The Australian also became the second player, following Thonghcai Jaidee in 2014, to surpass US$5million in career earnings, thanks to his victory in Malaysia.

There was no lack of drama in March as Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher staged a remarkable comeback by firing three birdies in his closing four holes to win the Hero Indian Open.

Not to be outdone in the tale of rookies, young Thai talent Sadom surpassed Murray’s earlier feat by became the record fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour in his very first start at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open.

Sadom secured his 2019 Asian Tour card in his first attempt at the Qualifying School and struck gold again with his first Tour victory and a second win as a professional after his maiden win on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) in February.

The Asian Tour headed to East Asia in May where an exciting run of events in China, Korea and Japan reignited the Order of Merit battle.

Finland’s Mikko Korhonen ensured his first play-off duel with France’s Benjamin Hebert would end in victory when he drained an eight-foot birdie putt on the first play-off hole to defeat the Frenchman and win the Volvo China Open.

The 38th GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship saw the trophy being retained on home soil again after Korea’s Taehee Lee edged Finland’s Janne Kaske to claim his first Asian Tour title.

Japan’s Yosuke Asaji then delivered the perfect mother’s day gift on the day that matters most when he held his nerve to win the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup in Chiba prefecture.

Beyond home comforts, the golfing world also began to take notice of South Africa’s Justin Harding and Jazz, who both elevated into the higher echelons of the game.

Harding continued to make waves even on the European Tour by winning the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March and emerged as one of the surprise packages at The Masters Tournament. He finished tied for 12th to earn a return ticket to The Masters in 2020.

American Kurt Kitayama, who graduated from Qualifying School in 2018, also made big strides in the Middle East when he was crowned the Oman Open champion. It was his second European Tour title since winning the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last December.

Jazz then took his prolific form to the Major stage when he finished in a creditable tied-14th place at the PGA Championship two weeks ago

That finish, which was also the best result by a Thai at the PGA Championship, moved him to a career-high 69th place on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Amidst the intense competition that provided all with a great spectacle the last five months, new heroes have emerged with records rewritten.

Hend holds a slim advantage over Jazz on the Asian Tour Order of Merit at this stage.

Slightly over US$50,000 separates the two but expect more twist and turns when the players return to action starting with the Kolon The 62nd KOREA Open Golf Championship next month.

After all, this is #whereitsAT.