Good afternoon, tennis fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the French Open first-round match between Wawrinka and De Jong. Stay tuned for pre-match updates as they are released.
Good afternoon, tennis fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the French Open first-round match between Wawrinka and De Jong. Stay tuned for pre-match updates as they are released.
Fixture: Stan Wawrinka vs Jesper De Jong
Series: French Open 2026
Venue: Court Simonne-Mathieu
Date: Monday, May 25, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM (tentative)
In the earlier match at Court Simonne-Mathieu, Italy’s Jasmine Paolini won 7-5, 6-3 againts Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
There’s a thunderous reception from the crowd for Wawrinka. After the pre-match formalities and the warm-up, it’s Jesper De Jong who gets us underway at Court Simonne-Mathieu with a quick point.
It has been a really good start from De Jong, who was widely considered to be a big underdog after struggling in the qualifiers. Yet, he has quickly created a sizeable lead early in the first set against Wawrinka.
De Jong holds his nerve under some late pressure from Wawrinka and successfully takes the first set! The crowd is largely backing Wawrinka, but his farewell is not going to plan.
Wawrinka has rolled back the years in the second set, going toe-to-toe against De Jong. The Swiss veteran is currently maintaining a slender lead halfway through the set.
Wawrinka is right back in it! The Swiss legend wards off a break point to serve out the second set 6-3. The match is back on level terms after one hour and 21 minutes. An intriguing third set coming up on Court Simonne Mathieu.
De Jong starts strongly in the third set, breaking Wawrinka early to surge to a 3-1 lead. The longer the match goes, the harder it might be for the Swiss to stay on top of his game, given the age differential between the players (41 as against 25).
Jesper clinically closes out the third set! The Dutchman takes it 6-3 to go two sets to one up after two hour and nine minutes. He is one set away from knocking out Wawrinka in the first round of his farewell Roland Garros campaign.
'Stan the Man' makes a promising start to the fourth set, looking like breaking De Jong early. But the 106th-ranked Dutch player holds firm to keep it on serve at 2-2. Remember that Wawrinka must win this set, if he has to keep his French Open farewell campaign going.
Jesper cuts through Wawrinka's resistance, to break the Swiss legend in the ninth game. De Jong is now serving for the match at 5-4!
De Jong does the job! He holds service to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours and 4 minutes. And with that, Stan Wawrinka bids an emotional farewell to French Open.
The 41-year-old gets a touching tribute from the victor after the match: "To be honest, it is not about me today," De Jong says.
"A funny story about Stan, he was playing against my coach when I was a ball kid. I'm not trying to say that you are old...
"It is all about Stan, the way he is fighting. I almost got broken by his signature shot, what that lethal backhand did to many players - including my coach."
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