In a battle of two youngsters heavily tipped to challenge leading lights Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, it was Jakub Mensik who outlasted his younger opponent Joao Fonseca to book a place in his first grand slam semi-final.

The match in some ways mimicked those early clashes between Alcaraz and Sinner: the flashy, much-hyped, pure shotmaker and entertainer against the more brutal, clinical, machine-like opponent. And in this case it was the precise serving of Mensik – coupled with a delicate touch at the net – that prevailed over the more spectacular, but equally more erratic, tennis of his 19-year-old challenger.

The Czech sped through the first two sets before a sudden drop-off in the third, with Fonseca pulling ahead only to be pegged back several times and eventually falling 6-4 6-3 7-6(3) – having saved six match points along the way.

“I’m still in the match a little bit,” a shell-shocked Mensik said afterwards. “Great guy, great competitor. We started a little bit nervous and at the end of the match there were some incredible shots. The tiebreak was one of my best performances so far, it was really tough.”

It became clear early on that 26th seed Mensik would not just be facing the young Brazilian, ranked three places and two seedings below him, but a crowd heavily weighted in his opponent’s favour, too. The first roars of “Come on Joao” erupted before the warm-up was even over, and as Fonseca slipped to 0-30 in his second service game, a concerned ripple went around Chatrier. Their man responded with a cleverly constructed point, dragging 20-year-old Mensik out wide before blasting home his signature venomous forehand, with an ace and more thunderous groundstrokes digging him out of trouble.

But having been pushed and pulled around the court early on Mensik found his game, venturing to the net with increasing success and capitalising on the increasingly loose Fonseca forehand. The Czech broke for 3-2 and earned another break point at 4-2, but this time Fonseca settled, rediscovering that brutal forehand and combining it with silky net skills of his own to keep the deficit to just one game.

But Mensik, having found his groove, remained resolute in defence and ventured to the net with increasing success, floating disguised drop shots past his opponent and finding solutions to nearly everything Fonseca threw at him as the Brazilian’s trademark forehand crumbled late in the first set.

Mensik outlasted the 19-year-old in a brutal 28-shot baseline rally at 5-3, waiting patiently until Fonseca hit long, and hit 15 winners to nine unforced errors in the first set.

His patient game continued into the second set, and it paid off: from 40-0 up at 2-2 in the second the teenager suddenly wilted, with a double fault and two unforced errors letting Mensik back in, before the former Miami champion came out on top in an 18-shot rally. He was clean on serve, delicate at the net and a wall in defence, with a fine cross-court backhand winner bringing up break point, and a sharply angled drop shot sealing the game.

Fonseca was back under pressure on serve once again at 5-3, saving a first set point with a laser-accurate forehand onto the sideline. But in a game that summed up both his brilliance and his erratic play, he double-faulted to give Mensik a second chance, and the Czech somehow kept himself in another superb 12-shot rally, chasing down the ball across every square inch of red clay, with Fonseca ultimately firing wide. By the end of the second set Mensik had only been taken to deuce once and was yet to face a break point.

But Fonseca left the court to regroup after the second set and looked a different player on his return. The belief was back, the aggression was renewed, and perhaps most significantly, his forehand was firing again.

That coincided with Mensik hitting three double faults in his opening service game – having made only one across the first two sets – to be broken for the first time. “Allez!” roared Fonseca, and the Brazil flags waved with renewed vigour. Having come back from two sets to love down twice already this tournament, first against Dino Prizmic and most notably against Novak Djokovic, the stage was set for Fonseca to do it again.

But with Mensik shaking out his leg after the third game, it suddenly became clear quite how much tennis the two youngsters had played over the last 10 days. Errors crept back into Fonseca’s game and although he fought back from 0-40 down, saving three break points, Mensik broke back thanks to a drop shot falling just short. Both their heads seemed to drop a little; in the next game the 26th seed shanked an overhead he would have made with ease in the first two sets.

Fonseca broke for 4-3 and as the roars under the Philippe-Chatrier roof increased so did the tension, with the youngster betraying his tender age with a poorly chosen 205km/h second serve on 30-30 that went against him. The Brazilian upped the aggression – each increasingly violent forehand accompanied by a grunt corresponding in volume – but Mensik battled back, and two shanked forehands by the teenager at the end of a mammoth game handed over another break for 5-5.

Fonseca’s level dipped as he served to stay in it at 6-5, but the fatigue and the mental strain on the other side of the net were evident as Mensik – on his second match point – shanked an overhead well wide. Both players produced some of their most sparkling tennis in a backs-to-the-wall game – but Mensik could not make any of his six match points count, ultimately handing over the game after seven deuces with a backhand thumped into the net.

The Czech may not have quite the same panache as his opponent – although he produced his fair share of highlight-reel shots late on Chatrier – but he rediscovered his most potent weapon, his serve, in the tiebreak. He pulled ahead to earn a seventh match point at 6-3 up, and it was his other most dazzling strike, the angled cross-court drop shot, that eventually sealed the deal.

The pair shared a warm embrace, these twin titans-to-be of the sport, and the heavily partisan crowd put its flags down for a moment to applaud them both.

Roland-Garros 2026 has most certainly seen the young generation arrive, if there had been any doubt before, but their task only gets tougher from here. Fonseca had spent 14 and a half hours on court to reach the quarter-finals, Mensik 13, with the Czech’s semi-final opponent, Alexander Zverev, having spent only nine to reach the last eight.

The German has only dropped one set across five matches and goes into Friday’s last-four meeting having spent a full four hours less on court, and with an extra day to recover. Mensik collapsed on court with heat exhaustion after his gruelling second-round, five-set win over Mariano Navone; his body has been under significantly more strain than the experienced second seed, who has now reached his fifth French Open semi-final in six years. Mensik will need all of the mental fortitude he displayed on Tuesday night, and some more spring in his step, if he is to well and truly cement his generation as the danger men of this tournament.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka can take her quest for a maiden French Open title into the last four on Wednesday, while Felix Auger-Aliassime will be hoping it’s la dolce vita as he eyes a first major crown.

One of only two top-10 seeds remaining in the women’s tournament, Sabalenka will know this is a golden opportunity to go one step further than her runner-up finish last year at Roland Garros.

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“I think because I’m not really focusing on that and I’m not really overthinking, I was able to kind of separate myself from what’s going on this year at Roland Garros,” Sabalenka said after her last-16 win over fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.

“I’m bringing my best level that I have, and I’m there, I’m fighting, and you know, I’m doing everything I can to get this trophy.”

But before the 28-year-old can think of playing a seventh straight Grand Slam semi-final she must take on Russian 25th seed Diana Shnaider.

“She’s a great player. I’d say tricky game, changing the rhythm a lot, and moving well, great serving. So I’m super excited to face her for the first time,” Sabalenka said of the 22-year-old.

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Anna Kalinskaya will meet Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in the other women’s match.

The 22nd-seeded Russian reached the last eight at the Australian Open two years ago and will be the heavy favourite to advance to the last four of a major for the first time in her career.

However, her 114th-ranked opponent has made a point of overcoming the odds so far in her stunning run to the quarter-finals in Paris.

She started out by downing Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen in the first round before felling 23rd seed Elise Mertens and former world number three Maria Sakkari.

“For me, it’s, like, whoever I’m playing, I’m lower in the rankings, so it doesn’t matter for me if (the draw is) open or not,” Chwalinska said.

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“Everyone here is higher in the ranking than me. So they are the favourites to win. I’m like an underdog. No one really knows me.”

– ‘It’s a derby’ –

If the women’s draw is open, then the men’s tournament at Roland Garros is a gaping chasm that is certain to produce a first-time Grand Slam winner.

“There was that big day or two days in a row, it was like (Jannik) Sinner lost, (Novak) Djokovic lost, it was a lot of noise,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“But that was last week. Then, as the days went by, you kind of get used to it.

“Of course not having Sinner, for example, in semi-finals is another opportunity, but you need to be there. So I have to focus on the next match and then try to be in the semi-finals.”

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Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked player left in the top half of the draw but even the fourth seed finds himself in uncharted territory, having never before progressed beyond the last 16 at the French Open.

If he’s certain to avoid Sinner in the last four, he would nonetheless face one of the world number one’s compatriots as the Canadian is the sole non-Italian remaining in the top bracket.

To keep alive his dream of winning a maiden major, he must first tackle 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals, with the winner of that match-up then taking on either 105th-ranked Matteo Berrettini or Matteo Arnaldi for a spot in the title-decider.

“It’s so special, I mean, for everyone. For Flavio, for Matteo, for me. I feel like we all have different stories, but we’re all so happy to be here, so happy to play quarters in a Slam,” said Arnaldi.

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“Definitely it’s going to be a tough one for us, because it’s a derby,” added the world number 104, who with 17 hours and 42 minutes under his belt in Paris has smashed the record for the longest time on court through to the last eight of a Grand Slam since records began.

nf/mw

Jaylen Johnson didn’t have to search his brain long for an answer to whether or not he has plans to make a PBA comeback.

“Yes. Let’s do it,” the entertaining and talented Rain or Shine import said. “I want to thank the PBA for embracing me and bringing me in. It was a great experience and I’ll be back.”

Johnson’s stint in the Reinforced Conference ended after Barangay Ginebra eliminated Rain or Shine in the semis. But it was at the end of the series-clinching Game 6 that Johnson marveled at how much love he has gotten from Filipino basketball fans.

Still flashing his familiar smile even after that stinging 118-107 loss, Johnson was greeted by fans for photo-ops outside Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

“I don’t know everybody’s perception of me, but I hope it’s a great one,” Johnson told the Inquirer.

“I hope they felt my energy on the court. Sometimes, I may be a little bit too much, but off the court, I’m a great guy.”

Rain or Shine certainly felt the energy of the enigmatic big man. With the University of Louisville product leading the way, the Painters opened the tournament with seven straight wins behind a lot of highlight plays from their import.

But the American standout was also an entertainer, breaking out into flamboyant celebrations after every tough basket and draining shots from beyond the four-point arc to the delight of the crowd.

He could rub some people the wrong way, though.

At one point during the elimination round, when Johnson did his usual shimmy, he had an altercation with Magnolia consultant Erick Arejola, who didn’t appreciate the gesture.

But even Ginebra fans who jeered him during the series eventually warmed up to the guy.

And perhaps that embrace is why he’s willing to run it back with the Painters in the future. INQ

Russia’s Mirra Andreeva reacts during the quarterfinal tennis match against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea at the French Open in Paris, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo)

PARIS  — Marta Kostyuk, the best player on clay this season and a vocal supporter of Ukraine amid the war with Russia, will play her first major semifinal at the French Open against a Russian.

Kostyuk won an intense all-Ukraine quarterfinal against Elina Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 on Tuesday. That set up Kostyuk against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who thumped Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3.

In men’s play, 20-year-old Jakub Mensik ended the run of Brazil’s Joao Fonseca with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory.

“It was one of my best performances so far,” Mensik said.

The 19-year-old Fonseca beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in five sets in the third round and then eliminated two-time runner-up Casper Ruud in the fourth round.

Mensik collapsed to the clay with cramps upon edging Mariano Navone in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the second round and also needed five sets to advance in the fourth round against Andrey Rublev.

For a place in Sunday’s final, Mensik will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev, the 2024 runner-up, who beat rising Spanish player Rafael Jodar 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-3.

Kostyuk leads Andreeva 2-0 on the tour; the second win in the Madrid final a month ago. Kostyuk didn’t shake hands at the net, following protocol for Ukrainians with opponents from Russia and its ally Belarus since the war started four years ago.

“We had a very difficult night again in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv, so many people dead,” Kostyuk said. “I want to give this match to Ukrainian people and to their resilience. Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)”

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 18 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday.

“I texted my family if they were OK. This is pretty much all I can

do,” Kostyuk said. “The biggest thing I can do is sit here and talk about it so more people can find out about it so they don’t get used to this terrible life.”

Svitolina said friends in Ukraine told her about the attacks just hours before the match.

“Just very sad that we all have to really put up with this heaviness and pain every single day, and scared moments not knowing what’s going to bring the next day,” Svitolina said.

She will leave Roland Garros to look after the daughter she has with French tennis player Gael Monfils, but will be cheering on Kostyuk.

“Hopefully she can get the title,” Svitolina said. “It’s going to be massive for Ukraine.”

No. 7-seeded Svitolina got off to a slow start but worked her way back, matching No. 15 Kostyuk’s power from the baseline. Kostyuk was better on the important points in the decider and improved her impressive 2026 record on clay to 17-0.

She’s the first Ukrainian woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open era since 1968. Svitolina has reached the semis at the other three Grand Slams but failed for the sixth time to win a French Open quarterfinal.

Andreeva will appear in her second French Open semifinal, two years after the first. She was asked about the challenges of playing a Ukrainian in wartime.

“Well, for me it doesn’t matter who I play,” Andreeva said. “I really try to play against the ball that is coming at me. Usually it doesn’t matter to me who I’m playing against, so I’m trying to really focus on the game and on the game plan.”

Asked whether she found it frustrating to hear Russian opponents avoiding the issue, Kostyuk said she wished “there was some more clear stance on what’s going on.”

“Especially when your country is killing other people,” she added. “I don’t know how you can sleep at night peacefully when you know that this is going on, and you have nothing to say about it.”

After a week of hot weather, rain arrived in Paris and play started and finished under the closed roof of Court Philippe-Chatrier. Competing in the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years, Cirstea struggled to find her rhythm against her 19-year-old rival.

The 36-year-old veteran, playing the final season of her career, immediately dropped her serve. She didn’t hold serve or win a game until the first game of the second set. Andreeva’s deep, accurate groundstrokes and charges to the net took a toll on 18th-seeded Cirstea, whose attempt to come back was shortlived.

“I felt like it was one of my best matches so far this tournament,” Andreeva said. “Super happy to be back in semis.”

The Indiana Fever fell in embarrassing fashion on Saturday night to the expansion Portland Fire, 100-84. It was the Fever’s second loss in a row, moved them to 4-4 on the season and highlighted valid concerns about roster construction, coaching and the defensive capabilities of superstar Caitlin Clark, who is being targeted in isolations far more than any other player in the league early this season. 

But fret over the lackluster performance transformed into a five-alarm fire when a video of coach Stephanie White and Clark having a heated sideline exchange during the second half went viral on social media. Suddenly, there were widespread rumors about White’s job security, while Clark’s attitude, White’s intelligence, the front office’s competence and the legitimacy of the WNBA itself were all put on public trial. 

Things escalated quickly, as they’re wont to do when Clark is involved. It has been like this since the college days, when Clark mania began to seep outside the confines of the women’s basketball world and take over the culture at large. But things are different now because this season, the intense spotlight and scrutiny that follows Clark is being met with championship expectations. 

The question remains: Will this be a breaking point for the team? Or a turning point?

On Monday afternoon, Clark described the interaction in Portland as “two people being competitive” and reiterated her support for her coach. 

“I know there’s a camera on me, and that’s how it’s going to be, but there’s a lot of people out there in the media or on TV that think they know a lot of things, and they’re just blatantly wrong about a lot of things. I ride for Steph. I ride for these girls,” Clark said. “Steph has my back more than anybody. Nobody in our locker room … thought twice about it. It’s just another example of what everybody, all of you, want to blow up.”

White echoed her star’s message, emphasizing that in-game spats happen all the time in sports.

“I think what happened in that moment is I was challenging a player. You know, it’s coaching,” White said. “I don’t often think it becomes an issue if you’re watching it in men’s sports most of the time. My relationship with Caitlin is great. I love Caitlin, I ride with her. We have a great relationship, and I think that the narrative of people trying to make it something that it’s not is just sensationalism to try to get some clicks and all the other stuff. She wants to be coached, I want her to help me be a better coach.”

White — who went to high school in Indiana, won an NCAA championship as a player at Purdue, played for the Fever from 2000-2004 and served her first stint as the Fever’s head coach from 2015-2016 — insisted that the team had moved on.

“As far as we were concerned, the moment died right then. You know, it’s just we can’t control the outside narrative,” she said. “We know that people are always going to try to have an opinion about what we’re doing in here. People are always going to have an opinion about Caitlin, it’s the reality of the worlds that we live in. It’s a reality of the job that we have, but that’s not the reality of what the actual relationship is like.”

But on Tuesday, it became clear that while White and Clark are trying to downplay any tensions between the two of them, the team as a whole is feeling the stress of a 4-4 start. Fever guard Sophie Cunningham told reporters that the Fever had a long, candid meeting the prior day to discuss the team’s defensive struggles, among other things. She said that while coaches started the meeting, players did a lot of the talking.

“I think that tough conversations need to be had, and we have a mature group that wants to hear honest feedback and it’s up to us players to keep ourselves accountable,” Cunningham said, per The Athletic. 

“If you think that everything is glitz and glamor, then you’re mistaken. I think that hard times make you or hard times can break you. And hopefully it don’t break us,” veteran Kelsey Mitchell said later when asked about the meeting. “The goal and the idea is to always be honest about where the hell you are. And we’re not that great right now. And if you’re honest about that, I think that you can put in the right work right now.”

The spotlight that follows Clark and, by proxy, everyone around her, is astronomical. Every single twist and turn of a play or a game  or a season gets dissected by the masses and filtered through a myriad of agendas. It is exhausting to observe from afar, and it’s clear from the last few days that it is starting to get to the players and coaches at the center of it. The good news is that the Fever are sticking together — publicly, at least — and having the tough conversations. 

The bad news is that it’s not going to get any easier from here. The Fever have two games this week, both of which are Commissioner’s Cup contests. On Thursday, they host the 5-2 Atlanta Dream, who sit in second place in the WNBA standings. This will be the first Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark showdown of 2026, and the first since Reese was traded away from Chicago. Ratings for games between Clark and Reese have historically been astronomical. Then on Saturday night during primetime, the Fever will play the New York Liberty in Brooklyn (on CBS and Paramount+). Every single Fever game this season is nationally broadcast. There is nowhere to hide. 

So, while the world talks around them, the Fever will just have to focus on what is in front of them.

“I want to win. This team wants to win and I’m the point guard, so it’s on me to help this team and this franchise win,” Clark said. “I take that on my shoulders, and I critique myself more than anybody, and I have to be better.”

After David Benavidez dethroned Gilberto Ramirez last month, Roy Jones Jr called for him to step up to heavyweight and face Oleksandr Usyk.

Now, having witnessed Usyk underwhelm against Rico Verhoeven, Jones has provided an updated opinion on a potential Usyk-Benavidez showdown.

Benavidez became a three-division world champion when he moved up to the 200lb division and beat down Ramirez to capture the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles. Soon after, he was linked to a return to light-heavyweight to face Dmitry Bivol or a potential defence of his new belts against cruiserweight standout, Jai Opetaia.

However, Jones declared that Benavidez should venture further up in weight and pursue a clash with undefeated heavyweight ruler, Usyk, believing that ‘The Mexican Monster’ could capture the 39-year-old legend at the right time and make history.

Following Usyk’s close shave with Verhoeven, three weeks on from Benavidez’s triumph, Jones beamed smugly in an interview with FightHype, believing that his suggestion has aged extraordinarily well.

“Did that [Usyk performance] not make me look like a genius? Wasn’t that the right fight? Imagine if that would have been David Benavidez on that night, Usyk would have had his first loss.

“That is the only fight for David Benavidez right now. Anybody else is a waste of time. You have got a chance to go up and try to make history again, doing something that you kind of want to do anyway. You could be the first to beat him and you would make history.”

Although, whilst confident that Benavidez should demand a shot at Usyk, ‘Captain Hook’ refused to predict a victory in a potential challenge for the Ukrainian’s belts. Instead, Jones outlined how he imagines Benavidez could dethrone the reigning heavyweight champion.

“It is a tough call because don’t get me wrong, Usyk ain’t no garbage, he is a great fighter, but this guy [Verhoeven] showed that if you disrupt things and make it uncomfortable for Usyk, you can make it a different style of fight – and I always knew that too. 

“Those guys, like [Vasyl] Lomachenko, in that second fight, he [Orlando Salido] gave ‘Loma’ the business and if I was ever going to fight Usyk, that is how I would have fought Usyk. I ain’t gonna box him, I am going to make it ugly because they don’t want to fight like that. This guy [Verhoeven], what he do? He made it ugly, they are not good at fighting like that.

“That style ain’t for no ugly fight, that style is for a boxing match, that is what they are used to growing up, but over here in pro boxing, you have got to be able to do it all.”

Whilst Usyk-Benavidez could be an option in the future, it seems as though Germany’s Agit Kabayel is next in line for a title bid, with that bout having been ordered by the WBC.

One of the most in-demand fights in boxing is a light-heavyweight showdown between unified world champion Dmitry Bivol and pound-for-pound star David Benavidez, and now two-time welterweight champion Shawn Porter has shared his thoughts on that proposed clash.

When Benavidez stepped up and challenged for the unified cruiserweight world titles last month, many questioned whether his punch power would translate into the 200lb division, but ‘The Mexican Monster’ soon proved that it did, halting Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez inside six rounds.

Since then, all of the talk has been whether Benavidez could make a return to the light-heavyweight scene and take on Bivol, but suggestions of a catchweight bout have led to concerns as to whether the 29-year-old could indeed step back down to 175lbs.

Speaking on his own podcast, Porter declared that Bivol has the style to hand ‘The Mexican Monster’ a first career defeat, believing that the way to overcome the three-division world champion is to slow him down.

“Bivol was Bivol [against Michael Eifert]. Does Bivol beat David Benavidez? I think that, [even] if sparring went good for David back then, there is still so much to take into consideration, so many things to consider.

“I think that is the style that it takes to beat a Benavidez, or to compete with him, it takes you being fast but also having an amount of power and pop that Benavidez has to be respectful of and be more calculated with.

“If you slow down Benavidez, that gives you more opportunity to beat him.”

Despite the wishes of ‘The Mexican Monster’ to face Bivol, there appears to be stumbling blocks to making the fight, as the WBO have ordered Bivol to defend his world titles against Liverpool’s Callum Smith, whilst a trilogy bout against Artur Beterbiev is also being discussed.