The fifth day of the French Open saw the upset of erratic Nick Kyrgios, while other top seeds in both the men and women’s draw fought their way. But the highlight of the day was an abandoned match. When Juan Martin del Potro advanced to a third-round showdown with Andy Murray after his opponet Nicholas Almagro collapsed to the court in tears at 1-1 in the third set on Court Two.

Off court, Alize Cornet had a sassy reply to Novak Djokovic signing up with Lacoste and Nick Kyrgios underwent a roller coaster of emotions in his shock loss. Dive in for the all the headlines and sidelines from the fifth day.

The Big News:

Halep, Pliskova stay on course

Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova reached the third round of the French Open for the first time with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Russia’s world No 86 Ekaterina Alexandrova. Romanian third seed and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep reached the the French Open third round on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Germany’s Tatjana Maria. Halep faces Russian 26th seed Darya Kasatkina who defeated Czech qualifier Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (7/1), 6-4. Pliskova will face Germany’s Carina Witthoeft for a place in the last 16.

Del Potro wins hearts in Almagro match, sets up exciting Murray clash

Juan Martin del Potro reached the French Open third round after Spanish opponent Nicolas Almagro quit in tears during the third set with a left knee injury.

In a moving conclusion to the match, Del Potro sat next to the stricken, sobbing Almagro, offering him water while patting the head of the inconsolable 31-year-old. The giant Argentine had also gone to the Spaniard’s aid when he had collapsed at the back of the court, weeping, just moments earlier. Wonderful sportsmanship!

In the process, del Potro set up another clash with world No 1 Andy Murray – who earned a hard-fought 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) win over Martin Klizan – the latest chapter in their thrilling rivalry.

Double trouble

French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut followed top seeds John Peers and Henri Kontinen out in round one, the first time in the Open era that the the No 1 and No 2 pairings in the men’s doubles draw have crashed out in the opening round at Roland Garros.

Shot of the day:

Stan Wawrinka may have won the match against Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, but not before a flamboyant display from the Ukranian. Check out this rally from the game and Dolgopolov’s stunning response at the net to seal a fine point against the fomrer champion.

Quotable quotes:

“It’s really great when you talk plenty of languages, but unfortunately you understand everything everyone’s saying.”

– Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on the pitfalls of speaking English, French, Hungarian and Swiss-German.

“I’m looking for him, because he’s really good. And he’s number one in Asia and he’s top 10. And Asian people is little short, but he also short, but he make top 10. So everyone looking for him, and me too.”

– South Korea’s Hyeon Chung on drawing inspiration from Japanese star Kei Nishikori

“I don’t like it when the Spidercam is – I don’t know how many times I have spoken about it in here. You guys know, I don’t like it when it’s in my ball toss.”

– Andy Murray reiterates his dislike of the suspended overhead camera at Roland Garros

“Zero, I do not feel anything at all.”

– Toni Nadal, uncle and long-time coach of nine-time champion Rafael Nadal, on how he feels being at his final Roland Garros tournament

From the sidelines:

Kyrgios’s emotional match

Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios admitted that the death of his beloved grandfather made him fall out of love with tennis.

The 22-year-old, who was stunned 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 to big-serving Kevin Anderson, was on the brink of tears when asked to recall memories of Christos Kyrgios who passed away in April after a long battle with cancer.

“After my grandpa’s passing, I just lost a lot of motivation to do anything really,” said Kyrgios, who was on the verge of tears and called a swift halt to his press conference. Earlier his frustration boiled over as he slid to defeat, smashing a racquet on a courtside chair and picking up a penalty point for his troubles.

Cornet take a cheeky dig at Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is the new face of French clothing company Lacoste, but Alize Cornet joked not everyone was happy with the decision. “I told him, ‘Welcome to the Lacoste family’. He said, ‘Thanks for accepting me’. I said, ‘Well, it’s not like we had much of a choice’, which he thought was hilarious,” said Cornet.

Why Bouchard reached late for her match

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard was caught off guard by Nicolas Almagro’s downfall, arriving late for her second-round defeat to Latvian 17th seed Anastasija Sevastova. “Well, there was a retirement before. So, I mean, I had to do my whole routine. I had to get my ankle taped. I can’t just do everything in ten minutes. She ran ahead of me,” said Bouchard.

Number-crunching:

30 – men aged 30 or over who reached the second round in Paris, an Open era record at a Grand Slam.

67 – unforced errors committed by Martin Klizan as the Slovak went down swinging against Andy Murray