The French Open will stage a women's match in its night session on Monday for the first time in three years.
With the top half of the men's draw featuring few household names, the blockbuster women's fourth-round encounter between world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka will end a run of 33 straight men's matches.
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has been criticized for reserving the primetime, one-match slot almost exclusively for men's singles contests. Since the session was introduced in 2021, only four of the first 60 matches have been women's singles and none since 2023.
The last women's match at night also involved Sabalenka, when she beat Sloane Stephens in 2023.
Sabalenka leads 2-1 in career meetings with Osaka, who has reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time.
"I'm just ready for the fight," Sabalenka said. "It's great to see her back on her level. ... I really enjoy our battles. It's high-level matches, and I really enjoy when somebody push me to the limit."
Speaking about the possibility of playing in the night session after her third-round win, Osaka said: "I'm so used to not playing night matches here and playing night matches in the US Open or something like that that I don't even associate this tournament with night matches."
Monday's match is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. local time (2:15 p.m. ET).
Mauresmo has previously defended the reliance on men's matches by citing value for ticket holders and the potential for women's contests, which are played over best-of-three sets instead of best-of-five, to be very quick.
New WTA chair Valerie Camillo met Mauresmo at Roland Garros this week, when she called for a greater representation of women's matches.
PA and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
