Preview: Wagner, Chan, Virtue/Moir look for golds at Paris Grand Prix

By MccarvelnbcNov 13, 2013, 5:11 PM EST

Back in the city of love, American Ashley Wagner would very much like to defend her title this weekend at the Trophee Eric Bompard, the fifth Grand Prix of the figure skating season.

Wagner won in Paris a year ago, leading up to her second straight U.S. Championship in January. A silver medalist at Skate America last month, the Los Angeles-based Wagner faces a pair of Russians who also have Grand Prix medals this season in Anna Pogorilaya and Adelina Sotnikova, who were first and second at Cup of China this month.

Reigning Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada will headline alongside Wagner and their countryman, three-time reigning world champion Patrick Chan.

Here’s the broadcast schedule (all times Eastern):

Universal Sports online broadcast schedule
Friday — 2 p.m. (pairs/men’s)
Friday — 8 p.m. (short dance/ladies)
Saturday — 1 p.m. (pairs/free dance)

NBC broadcast schedule
Sunday — 4:30-6 p.m.

Here are event-by-event previews:

LADIES
Wagner will take comfort in her score from Skate America compared to Pogorilaya’s in China, 193.81 to 178.62. The American will arrive in Paris continuing to solidify her triple-triple combination, which she landed twice in Detroit and gained confidence off of.

France’s Mae Berenice Meite will lead the home effort, though she shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the top spot, having been 11th at the World Championships in March.

Wagner’s countrywoman, Christina Gao, will look to build confidence in Paris after a fourth-place finish at Skate Canada. The Boston-based Gao, who is taking the year off from Harvard, has been fifth at the last four U.S. Championships, but will likely need third or better come January to make the trip to Sochi.

Yuna Kim pulled out of Paris earlier this season. She’s set to make a comeback from a foot injury next month in Croatia.

MEN
Chan’s gap over the world’s other top men shrank with a controversial win at Worlds in March and skating with some trepidation last month at Skate Canada. China’s Yan Han, Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu and the U.S.’ Jason Brown, 18, will all be chasing medals alongside the still-favored Chan in Paris.

Yan, the 2012 world junior champion, could be Chan’s biggest rival this weekend. The 17-year-old scored 245.62 to win the Cup of China. Chan tallied 262.03 in winning Skate Canada.

Brown, while he lacks a quadruple jump, made a strong senior debut at Skate America last month, subbing in for an injured Evan Lysacek and scoring one of the season’s highest short programs. Consistency will be the key for the teen who ended fifth in Detroit after a shaky free skate.

France’s Florent Amodio, a two-time national champion, will have the support of the home crowd.

ICE DANCE
Virtue and Moir looked happy — though not elated — after winning their fifth Skate Canada and will skate in Paris for the first time in two years, having won there in 2008 and 2011.

The Canadians will look to improve their twizzles and match rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White in going two-for-two in Grand Prix events this year.

Two other top-10 ranked couples appear in Paris — France’s Nathalie Pechalat and Fabrian Bourzat (sixth at March’s World Championships) and Russia’s Yelena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (fourth at a deep NHK Trophy in Japan last week).

Davis and White registered a 186.65 in Tokyo, down from 188.23 in Detroit, but still higher than Virtue and Moir’s 181.03 at Skate Canada, a mark upon which the Canadians will seek to improve.

PAIRS
There is a possibility Canada wins three golds should Chan and Virtue and Moir hold their form and the pairs team of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford shine. The reigning world bronze medalists were a disappointing third at Skate Canada last month, however.

Vancouver silver medalists Pang Qing and Tong Jian, fifth at Worlds this year, also factor into the pairs discussion, as do 2012 U.S. champions Caydee Denney and John Coughlin. Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov are a team to watch, as well, the Russians having been seventh at the World Championships in March. They are making their Grand Prix season debut.

Plushenko withdraws from Russian Grand Prix event

Headed to #TEB13 in Paris! Excited for #TeamUSA this week, ready to get started!

— Ashley Wagner (@AshWagner2010) November 12, 2013

Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz set French Open semifinal showdown

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 6:59 PM EDT

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will play in the French Open semifinals on Friday in the most anticipated match of the tournament.

Each man advanced with a quarterfinal win on Tuesday.

Djokovic, eyeing a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, rallied past 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4. The Serb reached his 45th career major semifinal, one shy of Roger Federer‘s men’s record.

Later Tuesday, top seed Alcaraz crushed fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to consolidate his status as the favorite in Friday’s showdown.

“This match, everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said. “I really wanted to play this match as well. I always say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Alcaraz, who at last year’s U.S. Open became the first male teen to win a major since Rafael Nadal in 2005, is at this event the youngest man to be the top seed at a major since Boris Becker at 1987 Wimbledon.

The Djokovic-Alcaraz semifinal will produce the clear favorite for Sunday’s final given left-handed 14-time French Open champion Nadal is out this year with a hip injury and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round. Djokovic and Nadal share the record 22 men’s major titles.

Djokovic and Alcaraz met once, with Alcaraz winning last year on clay in Madrid 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5).

“[Alcaraz] brings a lot of intensity on the court,” Djokovic said, before breaking into a smile. “Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.”

Alcaraz and Djokovic were set to be on opposite halves of the draw — and thus not able to meet until the final — until Medvedev won the last top-level clay event before the French Open to move ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. That meant Djokovic had a 50 percent chance to wind up in Alcaraz’s half, and that’s what the random draw spit out two weeks ago.

Earlier Tuesday in the first two women’s quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova advanced to face off in Thursday’s semifinals.

Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, swept Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to complete her set of semifinals in all four Grand Slams. Sabalenka will take the No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek if Swiatek loses before the final, or if Sabalenka makes the final and Swiatek does not win the title.

Svitolina, a former world No. 3, returned to competition in April from childbirth.

Muchova took out 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-2, to make her second major semifinal after the 2021 Australian Open.

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 5:16 PM EDT

Getty

The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They meet in Friday’s semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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