Three to See, Roland Garros Day 11: Can Jessica Pegula push Iga Swiatek and will Holger Rune figure out Casper Ruud?

HIGHLIGHTS: Swiatek rallies in three to reach quarters

Iga Swiatek vs. Jessica Pegula

Swiatek called her often-shaky, hard-fought win over Qinwen Zheng on Monday a “cold shower.” For the first time in more than a month, the WTA No. 1 dropped a set; she hesitated where she had been decisive; she admitted that for some stretches, she had no idea how to attack her young, powerful opponent.

Was this a sign that Swiatek is going to struggle to handle the pressure of expectations as she gets closer to the title? Or will she take heart and relax after surviving without her best? Either way, she’ll face a different sort of test in Pegula. First, unlike with Zheng, Swiatek has played this opponent before. After losing to the American three years ago, Swiatek beat her in Miami in two sets this spring. Second, where Zheng hits a heavy ball and goes on offense whenever she can, Pegula is a steady point-builder who will take as many strokes as she needs to put together the rally she wants. In Miami, Swiatek was able to win by getting in the first strike often enough, but it wasn’t easy. She’ll have to play better, and stay calmer, than she did on Monday to survive and advance again. Winner: Swiatek

Andrey Rublev vs. Marin Cilic

Seedings-wise, this was supposed to be an all-Russian quarterfinal, between Rublev and his friend, Daniil Medvedev. Instead, we have a match between one young player (the 24-year-old Rublev) who is looking to make a long-awaited breakthrough and reach his first semifinal at a major; and an older player (the 33-year-old Cilic) who may feel that this is his best chance at a swan-song Slam run.

Rublev is 4-2 against Cilic, and, at No. 7, he’s ranked 16 spots ahead of him. He’s had a good season, and he rose to the occasion in a tight four-setter Cristian Garin last week. But there are reasons to think Cilic can pull the upset. He beat Rublev in their most recent meeting, at the Australian Open; and to knock out Medvedev on Monday, he played perhaps his best tennis since 2017 and 2018, when he was a Wimbledon and Australian Open finalist. Cilic was exceedingly sharp in that one-sided win; can he stay that way against Rublev? He does have a history of getting on rolls—or at least one roll, when he tore through the latter stages of the 2014 US Open to win his only Grand Slam title. Winner: Cilic

Casper Ruud vs. Holger Rune

This is probably not the ideal opponent for Rune to face in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. He’s only 19, and he hasn’t spent much time on tour, but he’s already managed to lose to Ruud three times on clay, once in Bastad and twice in Monte Carlo. The encouraging sign is that the most recent of those defeats, last month in Monaco, was the most competitive—Ruud advanced in two tight sets. This all-Scandi affair, between a Dane and a Norwegian, could tell us a lot about who has the brighter future at the bigger events. At 23, Ruud is the steadier, more experienced player, and has already cracked the Top 10. But does Rune, who muscled his way past No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in his last match, have an X-factor—a mix of chutzpah and weaponry—that his opponent doesn’t? Winner: Rune