French Open diary day six: Home crowd push Kristina Mladenovic over the line and Rafael Nadal rampant

We round-up the key stories and look ahead to tomorrow's action at Roland-Garros

The rain just about held off on the sixth day of the French Open (Getty)

Thunderstorms were forecast for the sixth day of the 2017 French Open but, for the odd clap of thunder, the rain held off as the third round at Roland Garros drew to a close.

There were a number of impressive wins and upsets — as well as injuries. Both David Goffin and Guillermo García-López were forced to retire from their respective matches, while Lucas Pouille also looked to sustain a nasty twisted ankle during his epic five-setter against Albert Ramos Viñolas.

Here, we round-up all the action from the sixth day of the second Grand Slam of the season.

We also preview Saturday’s action.

Hero of day six

There is an awful amount of pressure on Kristina ‘Kiki’ Mladenovic to do what no French woman has done since Mary Pierce in 2000 at Roland Garros this year — to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup.

The thirteenth seed is in tremendous form, having reached the final in the Madrid and Stuttgart tune-up tournaments prior to arriving in Paris, but had to dig deep on Friday to beat the American Shelby Rogers 7-5 4-6 8-6.

There is an awful lot of pressure on Mladenovic's shoulders (Getty)

Mladenovic fed off the energy of the boisterous Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd to fight her way back in the pivotal third set, and will next play defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza in an absolutely unmissable match. “I have no words to describe the love I have for you,” Mladenovic said after her win.

“Honestly, I went through so many emotions during this match that I don't know what to say. Your support helps me so much. I had goose bumps.”

Performance of the day

Absolutely nobody is able to rival Rafael Nadal, who absolutely annihilated Nikoloz Basilashvili on Court Philippe Chatrier: 6-0 6-1 6-0. It was his 100th best-of-five-set match on the red clay of Roland-Garros, as well as his best ever, in terms of games lost. His record here now stands at a staggering 98-2.

Poor Basilashvili — who is ranked a commendable 63rd in the world and has already beaten Dominic Thiem this season — hit just five winners all match, while making 34 unforced errors. He won just 36 of the match’s 118 points, meaning Nadal won a staggering 69.5% of all the points on offer.

Nadal was in stunning form (Getty)

Said Nadal after the match: “I think I played great. Very high intensity in all the shots. It was a great match for me, no?” Said Basilashvili: “I was expecting, obviously, a very, very difficult match, but not something like this. The score is quite embarrassing, you know, but I have to accept it.”

Upset of the day

Not an upset as such, but tenth seed David Goffin certainly wasn’t expecting to lose in the third round here today. Playing Horacio Zeballos, the Belgian chased down a very deep groundstroke well beyond the baseline, only to slip over a sheet of tarpaulin on the very edge of the court, injuring his ankle in the process. He sustained ligament damage in the freak fall, and was forced to retire.

The in-form Belgian was a contender in Paris (Getty)

To lose Goffin so early into this tournament is a dreadful shame, especially considering his stellar clay-court form this season. The World No 12 had reached the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters and the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open, and had been widely tipped as a dark horse in Paris.

It was also a surprise to see Grigor Dimitrov fall to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta. The Bulgarian started superbly on Court 1 and raced into a 4-0 lead in the first set, only to allow the clay-court specialist to play his way back into the match. He eventually lost 7-5 6-3 6-4 meaning — for all his considerable talent — he is still yet to reach the fourth round of the French Open.

Brit watch

Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares are making nice progress in the men’s doubles. They beat Russian duo Mikhail Elgin and Karen Khachanov 6-1 7-6(2) to progress to the third round, where they will play ninth seeded Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas.

The last two Brits still left in the singles — Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund — both return to action on Saturday. Murray plays Juan Martin del Potro on Court Philippe Chatrier, while Edmund takes on Kevin Anderson (who eliminated Nick Kyrgios) on Court 2.

Quote of the day

“Well, I think I'm 50% better on clay, 50% better on hard court, and on grass, in this moment, I am not good, but I will try to continue.”

Pablo Carreno Busta talks down his Wimbledon chances. At least he has a fourth-round match at Roland Garros to look forward to.

Stat attack

90 minutes: The time it took Nadal to book his place in the fourth round of the 2017 French Open.

Saturday’s order of play

Showcourts only, all times UK

Court Philippe Chatrier (play starts at 10.00)

Alize Cornet (France) v 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)

1-Andy Murray (Britain) v 29-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina)

24-Richard Gasquet (France) v Gael Monfils (France)

5-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) v Magda Linette (Poland)

Court Suzanne Lenglen

Feliciano Lopez (Spain) v 7-Marin Cilic (Croatia)

26-Daria Kasatkina (Russia) v 3-Simona Halep (Romania)

3-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) v 28-Fabio Fognini (Italy)

17-Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) v Petra Martic (Croatia)

Court One

Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) v 28-Caroline Garcia (France)

Chung Hyeon (South Korea) v 8-Kei Nishikori (Japan)

Carina Witthoeft (Germany) v 2-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)