French Open Day 5: Stefanos Tsitsipas again avoids early exit, Iga Swiatek wins 30th straight match

Welcome to Day 5 of the French Open! We're so close to Round 3, but there's still business to take care of in Round 2 on Thursday.

What will happen? Read on to find out.

Tsitsipas once again avoids early exit

Stefanos Tsitsipas loves playing with fire, and he loves doing it in front of a passionate crowd. Just a few days after Tsitsipas had to dig himself out of a huge hole, Tsitsipas and Zdenek Kolar fought each other tooth and nail, constantly going back and forth with the lead over four hours and six minutes. Every time Tsitsipas hit an unreturnable shot, Kolar was there to somehow send it back his way. It had started innocently, with Tsitsipas winning the first set, but that's when the real battle began. Tsitsipas won the second set after an intense tiebreak, then the third set went to a tiebreak with Kolar emerging triumphant. They fought to a draw again in the fourth set, but Tsitsipas finally pulled it out, just a point or two away from having blown a two-set lead, winning 6-3, 7-6(8), 6(3)-7, 7-6(7).

Swiatek steamrolls Riske

There is no one on the planet, man or woman, playing tennis like Iga Swiatek right now. The No. 1 seed absolutely flattened American Alison Riske 6-0, 6-2 in just 61 minutes. That was Swiatek's 30th straight match win, and she came out swinging, taking the first set in just 22 minutes. Over the match she hammered 23 winners to Riske's six, and didn't turn down the intensity for even a minute. She was so focused in the second set that she sat down to rehydrate, not realizing that it wasn't time for a full changeover yet.

Swiatek played like a surgeon, lasering balls down the lines and into the corners. Riske put up a tremendous effort — taking two games off Swiatek right now is no small thing — but Swiatek is absolutely dominating the competition and playing the best tennis of her or anyone else's life.

Collins taken out by Rodgers

Yet another women's top-10 seed is out of the French Open. In a battle between Americans, No. 9 seed Danielle Collins fell to Shelby Rogers, unseeded at Roland Garros and ranked 50th in the world. Rogers managed to handle Collins in 76 minutes, winning 6-4, 6-3. Collins had done well so far in 2022, making the Australian Open finals (losing to the now-retired Ash Barty), but she couldn't get past Rogers. For her part, Rogers had a handful of first-round exits leading into Roland Garros, but has now equaled her best result since she made it to the third round in 2017.

Americans Pegula, Keys keep rolling

Jessica Pegula, seeded at 11, and Madison Keys, seeded at 22, have both won their Round 2 matches and are headed to Round 3. Pegula defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, and Keys defeated Caroline Garcia 6-4, 7-6(3). Neither win was easy — Pegula lost a close second set while the second set between Keys and Garcia went to a tiebreaker — but those victories match both players' best result at the French Open in their careers. In the third round, Pegula will face Tamara Zidansek and Keys will face Elena Rybakina.

Pliskova downed by Jeanjean

Leolia Jeanjean has taken out the No. 8 women's tennis player at the French Open. Karolina Pliskova lost to Jeanjean 2-6, 2-6 in a match that took just 75 minutes. Jeanjean began the French Open ranked at 227 in the world, but will see a pretty major jump now that she's made it to Round 3. As for Pliskova, Roland Garros has never been her forte. She's made it past Round 3 just once, when she reached the semifinals in 2017. She also hasn't made it past the second round at any tournament on the WTA 1000 this season, but with clay season at a close, she'll likely have better luck going forward.

Medvedev defeats Djere

Daniil Medvedev continues to look good just months after having a hernia procedure, defeating Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev largely cruised, but ran into trouble late in the game. Until the third set, only two games had lasted more than five minutes, and all but one had been longer than six minutes. But Djere really challenged Medvedev in the final set, keeping him on his toes with a 15-minute game (which Medvedev won to break Djere) and a 13-minute game (which Djere won). Djere needed more than that to take down the No. 2, but he made Medvedev work for the win.

Other notable results

• American Frances Tiafoe won the first set of his Round 2 match but wasn't able to hold off David Goffin, who won the final three sets to eliminate Tiafoe from the tournament.

• Casper Ruud, who in Round 1 defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the emotional final match of his career, has advanced to Round 3 after defeating Emil Ruusuvuori.

• Simona Halep suffered a rough loss on Thursday, losing 6-2, 2-6, 1-6 to 19-year-old Qinwen Zheng. She looked like she was in control in the first set, but started to disintegrate in the second set and couldn't recover. It's not clear if she was suffering from an injury, but she looked devastated throughout the final set. A tough defeat for a mighty competitor.

Check back for more results throughout the day.