Three To See, Day 4: Pegula looks to contain Giorgi; past champs Djokovic, Wawrinka in action

TC Desk: Catching up with Novak in Paris

Jessica Pegula vs. Camila Giorgi

U.S. tennis fans will have to get up early—or, if you’re on the West Coast, stay up very late—to catch the nation’s top-ranked woman on Wednesday. Pegula is up first on Chatrier, where she’ll be facing a familiar opponent. She and Giorgi have played nine times dating back to 2011, and three times in the last 13 months. Pegula leads the head-to-head 7-2, and has won four straight. But it has never been easy. Each of their last three matches has gone three sets, and the closest was the one they played on clay, last year in Madrid, which Pegula won 7-5 in the third.

Pegula is the higher-ranked player—No. 3 to No. 37 for Giorgi—and was a quarterfinalist here last year. She’s also coming off a good win over fellow American Danielle Collins. But Giorgi has been in decent form herself, winning two matches in Rome and beating French favorite Alizé Cornet in the first round in Paris. Giorgi hits with constant, reckless pace, and she can be untouchable for the length of a set. But her history with Pegula says she won’t be untouchable for two. Winner: Pegula

Stan Wawrinka vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis

Wawrinka is 38 years old, ranked 89th, and has had much of his body surgically repaired over the years. But the 2015 champion still knows his way around Roland Garros. He survived five sets with a pretty fair clay-courter, Albert Ramos-Viñolas, in one of the best matches of the opening round.

Now he needs to recover in time for his first career meeting with Kokkinakis, second up on Court Simonne-Mathieu. The 27-year-old Australian is ranked 108th, but he has more game than that. He showed some of it in a straight-set win over 20th-seeded Dan Evans in the first round. Kokkinakis will have age and rest on his side, but Stan will have the shots and the crowd. Winner: Wawrinka

Novak Djokovic vs. Marton Fucsovics

Djokovic will headline the night session in Chatrier. Hopefully he enjoys it more than he did a couple of years ago, when the empty Covid-era stadium helped inspire one of his more memorable rant-like celebrations after a quarterfinal win over Matter Berrettini. Of course, Djokovic went on to win the title that year, so maybe ranting isn’t such a bad thing for him.

Will he be driven to do the same by Fucsovics? Their history says, probably not. Djokovic is 4-0 against the 31-year-old, 83rd-ranked hard-hitting Hungarian, though he has dropped a couple of sets in those matches. Fucsovics will b able to push Djokovic, make him run and work, which might be just what the Serb is looking for in the long run, even if he doesn’t enjoy the process at the time. Winner: Djokovic