Sabalenka suffered her first loss to Zheng in seven career meetings in the Rome quarter-finals last month and she went behind early in the opening set at a half-full Court Philippe Chatrier.

Football fan Djokovic may have missed the majority of PSG's 5-0 demolition of Inter, but the Serb told reporters after his win the final made its presence felt on court in Paris.

Top seed Jannik Sinner dismissed world number 34 Jiri Lehecka in straight sets on Saturday at Roland Garros as the Italian booked his place in the fourth round.

"When I was walking on court a little girl put a drawing on my bench, I kept it. It's my lucky charm," she said.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz arrived as the favourite at Roland Garros after securing the Monte Carlo Masters and Italian Open trophies in the build-up to the clay-court major.

On Sunday, we witnessed the farewell of a tennis legend: Rafael Nadal, “King of Clay” and a symbol of inspiration.

Women's second seed and former Roland Garros finalist Coco Gauff also targets a place in the last 32, after 18-year-old contender Mirra Andreeva cruised through.

Swiatek continued her bid for a fourth straight Roland Garros crown as she outclassed fellow former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Jasmine Paolini moved into the French Open third round on Wednesday as the last year's runner-up, brushed aside Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3 to stretch her winning streak to eight matches following her triumph at the Italian Open earlier this month.

Organisers gave all 15,000 people at Court Philippe Chatrier for a ceremony celebrating Nadal's career on Sunday free T-shirts printed with the words 'merci, Rafa'.

The 38-year-old Djokovic starts off against 98th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald, three days after becoming only the third man to win 100 ATP titles with his victory in Geneva.

Swiatek extended her winning run at Roland Garros to 22 matches but has dropped to fifth in the world after a year-long trophy drought.

Roland Garros turned brick-red with emotion as fans chanted "Merci Rafa" in a heartfelt tribute to Rafael Nadal.

Roland Garros held an emotional tribute to the 14-time French Open winner's career on the opening day of the tournament, six months after Nadal played his final match.

Roland Garros will pay tribute to its greatest champion with a ceremony for the retired Rafael Nadal on Sunday, while Aryna Sabalenka gets her French Open campaign up and running on the opening day of the tournament.

A special ceremony will honor the 14-time champion Nadal on opening day.

Djokovic joins Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer as the only players with a century of tour titles.

With the aid of shovels, brooms and wheelbarrows -- and a dose of elbow grease -- the 180 or so specialised staff, most of whom are temporary workers, toil from dawn till dusk to whip the 18 courts into pristine condition for the year's second Grand Slam.

Alcaraz fended off two set points late in the first set and then seized control in the tie-break before pulling away for a 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win, his fourth in a row over world number one Sinner.

Late bloomer Paolini is the first Italian woman to win the Rome event since Raffaella Reggi in 1985 after overcoming former US Open champion Gauff.