Thursday dawned like any other ordinary day in the kingdom of clay. Roland Garros continued calmly in the second round, sixty four warriors remaining in the hunt for the greatest crown this accursedly beautiful sport has to offer. Yet across all corners of Paris, the discussions scarcely revolved around who would win the tournament. No, that matter seemed all but settled already. For the Italian terminator still stalked the draw. Jannik Sinner had reduced the ATP Tour to rubble for months now, devouring Masters titles with mechanical inevitability and dismantling opponents with the emotional indifference of a warrior whose sole objective was to conquer. The only entity seemingly capable of defeating him was his own physical condition. Thus, the more interesting question became who exactly would emerge from the opposite end of the draw merely for the honour of being sacrificed in the final.…