Day 4 lineup: Sharapova, Federer, American Johnson return to action

Day 4 at the French Open features Maria Sharapova, Kei Nishikori, Simona Halep and Roger Federer back in action. Play begins at 5 a.m. ET on ESPN2, with coverage moving to Tennis Channel at 10 a.m.

Author:
Courtney Nguyen
Publish date:
May 26, 2015

PARIS – Day 4 at the French Open features Maria Sharapova, Kei Nishikori, Simona Halep and Roger Federer back in action. Play begins at 5 a.m. ET on ESPN2, with coverage moving to Tennis Channel at 10 a.m. Full television and broadcast schedule can be found here. Full order of play can be found here.

Maria Sharapova tries to shake off illness and advance: The Russian fell under the weather just before the start of the tournament and coughed her way through an opening round win over Kaia Kanepi. Next up is fellow Russian No. 91 Vitalia Diatchenko (first match, Chatrier). Never underestimate the extra motivation the other Russians can tap into when it comes to beating their Russian No. 1.

Day 3 recap: No. 6 Bouchard ousted in round one, Kvitova survives scare

Kei Nishikori faces a strong challenge vs. Thomaz Bellucci: Nishikori's draw to the quarterfinals is a great one, but the biggest roadblock comes on Wednesday against an in-form Bellucci. The Brazilian, ranked No. 40, is having one of the best seasons of his career and he just won his first title of the season last week at the Geneva Open. This is the first main draw meeting between the two, though Bellucci won a qualifying match in 2007 on the red clay in Bogota.

Roger Federer on Court Suzanne Lenglen: Federer plays Marcel Granollers in the second match on Lenglen.

Simona Halep seeks revenge against her U.S. Open vanquisher: The Romanian had such high hopes at last year's U.S. Open and it all came crashing down in the third round with a straight set loss to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. The two play on Wednesday (third match, Lenglen).

Czech Mates: No. 4 Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek will put their Davis Cup love aside when they face off in the third match on Court 1. Berdych should cruise but Stepanek always finds a way to make it fun.

Will Nadal's dominant opening win in Paris restore his confidence?

The Bring Yo' Helmet Match of the Day: No. 21 Garbine Muguruza, a quarterfinalist last year, will try and contain the unadulterated power of Camila Giorgi (third match, Court 2). Coming into the tournament, Giorgi led the WTA tour in double-faults, hitting 198 in just 19 matches this season. When she's good she is very good. When she is bad...she could injure people.

The Soap Opera Match of the Day: It's No. 28 Fabio Fognini against the emotional and erratic Benoit Paire (second match, Court 7). Court 7 is a rowdy court and a favorite amongst the French players, as the French fans can pack in tight and create a Davis Cup atmosphere. It will be fun seeing how Fognini handles it.

Ernests Gulbis goes for another win: The Latvian hasn't won back-to-back matches all year and has done it just twice since making the semifinals here last year. He secured his third win of the season in the first round and has a chance for another against French wildcard Nicolas Mahut (second match, Court 2).

Steve Johnson has a shot at the third round: The American scored the most impressive upset of the first round when he beat an in-form Guillermo Garcia Lopez in five sets in the first round. On paper he has an easier task in the second round against No. 54 Sergiy Stakhovsky (first match, Court 17). This is the first meeting between the two.

More matches to watch

Daria Gavrilova vs. Sabine Lisicki (first match, Court 3), Yulia Putintseva vs. Elina Svitolina (second match, Court 6), Gilles Simon vs. Martin Klizan (first match, Court 1)