The French Open will stage a women’s match in its night session on Monday for the first time in three years.
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has been heavily criticised for reserving the prime-time one-match slot almost exclusively for men’s singles contests.
Since the session was introduced in 2021, only four of the first 60 matches have been women’s singles and none since 2023.
But, with the top half of the men’s draw featuring few household names, the blockbuster women’s fourth-round encounter between world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka has made the cut on Monday, ending a run of 33 straight men’s matches.
Mauresmo has previously defended the reliance on men’s matches by citing value for money for ticket-holders and the potential for women’s contests, which are played over best-of-three sets instead of best-of-five, to be very quick.
New WTA chief executive Valerie Camillo met Mauresmo at Roland Garros this week, where she called for a greater representation of women’s matches.
Speaking about the possibility of playing in the night session after her third-round win, Osaka said: “I’m so used to not playing night matches here and playing night matches in the US Open or something like that that I don’t even associate this tournament with night matches.”
PA
