French Open 2021: Thursday Schedule and Predictions for Roland Garros Bracket

Thursday's schedule at Roland Garros is loaded with previous French Open champions and the favorites to win the 2021 edition of the tournament. 

Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will play on Court Philippe Chatrier, while Novak Djokovic, Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek are scheduled for the two other showcase courts. 

The stars playing on Chatrier face tougher test than they may have in previous second-round major matches. 

Barty appears to have the easiest match of the four seeded players since Magda Linette has advanced out of the second round at Roland Garros once in her career. 

American Sloane Stephens should provide a challenge to Pliskova, Federer takes on fellow major winner Marin Cilic, and Nadal gets Frenchman Richard Gasquet. 

The full order of play for Thursday's matches at Roland Garros can be found on the tournament's official website. 

Predictions

Sloane Stephens Provides Challenge for Karolina Pliskova

Stephens could be in the best position to upset a top-10 seed on Thursday. 

The 28-year-old American was a French Open finalist in 2018, made the quarterfinals in 2019 and owns a 3-1 head-to-head record over Pliskova. 

Stephens was far from perfect in the buildup to Roland Garros, but she did pick up a few victories over seeded players on the clay-court circuit. 

Stephens defeated Madison Keys in Charleston and beat Daria Kasatkina in three sets in Parma, Italy. She also pushed Ons Jabeur to a third set in Madrid and pushed Keys to three sets in Rome. 

The 58th-ranked woman in the world continued her run of three-set matches in the first round, where she beat Carla Suarez Navarro after stumbling in the first set. 

Pliskova was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2017, but she has not advanced past the third round in any of her other eight main-draw appearances. 

The No. 9 seed entered Roland Garros off a final appearance in Rome, but her path to get there was bumpy. She needed three sets to get past both Jelena Ostapenko and Petra Martic. 

In her three clay-court appearances prior to Paris, Pliskova went 7-3, with five of those victories coming in three sets. 

Even if Stephens does not come up with the upset, she should at least push Pliskova to a third set in a match that could be the best of the four scheduled for Chatrier. 

Roger Federer Loses at Least 1 Set to Marin Cilic

Federer and Cilic have been through some battles at major championships throughout their careers. 

The last match between the two major winners was the five-set Australian Open final in 2018. That was the third time Cilic took at least one set off Federer at a major. 

Federer needed five sets to get past Cilic in the 2016 Wimbledon quarterfinals and won in four sets at the 2011 U.S. Open. 

Federer could be the member of the men's Big Three most susceptible to an early upset in Paris because he just returned from an extended injury layoff. Djokovic and Nadal will be heavy favorites in each one of their matches during the first week of play. 

Cilic and Federer advanced out of the first round with relative ease, so they should be more than rested for the showdown that is expected on Chatrier. 

Cilic's 4-4 clay-court record in the buildup to Roland Garros may not suggest he will be up for the fight, but he had no problem winning in the first round and has picked off at least one set off Federer in three of their four Grand Slam meetings. 

The 2014 U.S. Open champion may not pull off the upset, but he will give Federer one of his toughest tests of the first week.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from ATPTour.com and WTATennis.com.