French Open 2019: Saturday Schedule and Predictions for Roland-Garros Bracket

The third round of the 2019 French Open continues on Saturday as Novak Djokovic returns to the schedule against Italian underdog Salvatore Caruso.

Djokovic is yet to meet a seeded opponent thus far at Roland-Garros and has won all six sets he's played in Paris, while Caruso looks to capitalise after dominating Gilles Simon in the second round.

Fourth and fifth seeds Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev will face Pablo Cuevas and No. 30 Dusan Lajovic, respectively. Juan Martin del Potro takes on Jordan Thompson after making it to the semi-finals last year, and Roberto Bautista Agut has a difficult challenge ahead of him in ninth seed Fabio Fognini.

Naomi Osaka survived another scare against Victoria Azarenka to set up a third-round clash opposite Katerina Siniakova, still seeking her first straight-sets win of the competition.

Tenth seed Serena Williams will meet American countrywoman Sofia Kenin when she returns to the clay.  Madison Keys is also back in action against Anna Blinkova, and defending champions Simona Halep prepares to battle No. 27 Lesia Tsurenko.

Saturday's Schedule (Predicted Winner)

Men's Singles

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Salvatore Caruso (Djokovic)

(9) Fabio Fognini vs. (18) Roberto Bautista Agut (Fognini)

(14) Gael Monfils vs. Antoine Hoang (Monfils)

(5) Alexander Zverev vs. (30) Dusan Lajovic (Zverev)

(13) Borna Coric vs. Jan-Lennard Struff (Coric)

(4) Dominic Thiem vs. Pablo Cuevas (Thiem)

(10) Karen Khachanov vs. Martin Klizan (Khachanov)

(8) Juan Martin del Potro vs. Jordan Thompson (Thompson)

Women's Singles

Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Aliona Bolsova (Alexandrova)

Amanda Anisimova vs. Irana-Camelia Begu (Anisimova)

(14) Madison Keys vs. Anna Blinkova (Keys)

(3) Simona Halep vs. (27) Lesia Tsurenko (Halep)

(1) Naomi Osaka vs. Katerina Siniakova (Osaka)

(8) Ashleigh Barty vs. Andrea Petkovic (Barty)

Monica Puig vs. Iga Swiatek (Puig)

(10) Serena Williams vs. Sofia Kenin (Williams)

Visit RolandGarros.com to see the schedule in full.

Saturday Preview

Djokovic's quest to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once for a second time in his career has come off without a hitch thus far, beating Hubert Hurkacz and Henri Laaksonen in the first two rounds in routine fashion.

After a period out of form between late 2016 and early 2018, the Serb looks back to his best and said he felt he reaches his optimal form at majors, via Reuters:

Caruso, 26, dispatched France's Simon 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 and is seeking a massive upset in his first meeting with Djokovic, but the levels his opponent has demonstrated in Paris suggest the favourite will overcome.

With 25 seeding spots between them, one might think Zverev would be a major favourite to progress ahead of Lajovic. However, tennis writer Jose Morgado pointed out their only previous match—at the 2018 French Open—was decided by narrow margins:

Del Potro is impressing again at Roland-Garros, and the crowd favourite pulled through a five-set showcase with Yoshihito Nishioka to make the third round for a third year in a row (a career first).

The issue for the No. 8 seed is that familiar knee issues could resurface after he suffered a slip midway through and could be vulnerable to an upset against unseeded Thompson, per Morgado:

Australian Thompson is no pushover and is in his fourth year competing at the French Open in earnest, having knocked out veteran Ivo Karlovic in the previous round.

Women's top seed Osaka has dropped the first set in each of her games so far at Roland-Garros, but she'll be more hopeful of taking a cleaner victory against Siniakova as far as energy efficiency is concerned.

Former world No. 1 Azarenka was within reach of knocking the incumbent rankings leader out of the tournament, and Osaka gave a humble response to her latest test after the result, per WTA Insider:

Williams is in the same half of the women's bracket and could face Osaka if she makes it to the quarter-finals, though Kenin is the next obstacle in her path to a record-equalling 24th major title.

Her second-round win over Kurumi Nara was a ruthless display of the domination Williams can reach at her best, and the 10th seed sealed that triumph with a powerful ace, via the USTA:

Halep is bound to be pushed in her battle against Ukraine's Tsurenko after playing three sets in each of her matches thus far, However, the Romanian has the form to suggest she'll make the fourth round for a fourth straight year.