Sessions

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, herself a former women’s world number one, had regularly pointed to the possibility of short two-set matches as the reason for often overlooking the women.

“The match-ups are always interesting for both men and women, but there are multiple factors for us to make the choice,” Mauresmo said earlier on Monday.

“As you know, the potential length of the matches is something that we are also looking at.”

On picking Sabalenka against Osaka, she added: “It was obvious that it should be a night match tonight.”

There was a school of thought that Mauresmo might have looked elsewhere, though, had men’s world number one Jannik Sinner still been in the tournament.

Sinner would have been scheduled to play on the same day, but without him the men’s matches taking place on Monday lacked star power.

If Sabalenka against Osaka did not take place under the lights, then which women’s match would conceivably ever be picked?

With that came a sense of expectation.

If the match ended up being a dud, then it could have been used by critics as a stick to beat the women’s game with.

That, others argue, was a situation created by the French Open’s reluctance to showcase its female stars in the first place.

Was the burden which it placed on Sabalenka and Osaka to represent the women’s game fair?

“I don’t really care. There are so many different things to put pressure on myself – that was the last thing on my mind,” said Osaka.

“Shout out to the tournament for trusting us – I hope it was entertaining for people.”

This debate is nothing new – but nothing has changed.

In each of the past three years, questions have been raised about whether the French Open should do more to showcase the women’s game.

“I don’t think they have daughters, because I don’t think they want to treat their daughters like this,” said Jabeur.

The lack of action prompted recently appointed WTA chief executive Valerie Camillo to seek answers from French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo – a former women’s world number one – when they met at Roland Garros this week.

In what the WTA describes as an open and productive conversation, Camillo underlined her belief that women’s players have delivered some of the “most exciting and dynamic competition in global sport” over recent months and years.

It remains to be seen whether Camillo’s call for action is listened to.

Mauresmo has consistently argued that the danger of women’s matches going “really fast” is the justification behind the choices.

With tickets ranging from €60 to €280 (£50 to £240), tournament organisers think the possibility of a short two-set women’s match does not represent value for money.

Mauresmo has insisted the night sessions will not be extended to two matches – like the Australian Open and US Open – in fear of creating late finishes.

Will the French Open be swayed? It refused to waver last year, despite pressure from players, the women’s governing body and – according to reports, external – broadcasters.

Former world number one Osaka will meet Aryna Sabalenka – the current top women’s player – in the last 16 on Monday.

The Japanese player said she did not know if that blockbuster match would be under consideration for the night session, but added she felt the slot was reserved for “popcorn matches”.

If Osaka against Sabalenka does not fulfil the French Open’s criteria, it feels like nothing will.

“I hope it will change,” added Ostapenko.

“Even if it’s not me playing, I would like to see some women’s matches there. But I don’t know that we will.”

MIAMI — A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was convicted Friday in connection with a secret $50-million lobbying campaign on behalf of Venezuela during the first Trump administration.

Jurors found Republican David Rivera and an associate, Esther Nuhfer, guilty on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of their work for former President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami’s role as a crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, one highlighting the city’s reputation as a magnet for corruption and anti-Communist crusaders among its sizable exile population.

It included testimony from Rubio, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions and a top Washington lobbyist — all of whom testified that they were shocked to learn belatedly of Rivera’s consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.

In an 11-count indictment unsealed in 2022, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting president — to work Republican connections from Rivera’s time in Congress to get the first Trump administration to abandon its hard-line stance and ease crippling sanctions on Venezuela.

As part of the charm offensive, prosecutors alleged, Rivera and Nuhfer, a political consultant, manipulated influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions, like “pawns on a chess board.” The goal: to try to normalize relations with the new Trump administration at a time when the Maduro government was buffeted by serious accusations of human rights violations.

“As long as the money kept coming in, they didn’t care from where,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said of the defendants during closing arguments.

‘Massive secret’ threatened to damage Rivera’s political career

But the two held onto the “massive secret” and didn’t disclose their lobbying work as required, for fear it would have ended Rivera’s political career as an anti-Communist stalwart, Cruz said.

To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted chat group called MIA — for Miami — with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who was subsequently charged in the U.S. with bribing top Venezuelan officials.

Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the “bus driver,” Sessions “Sombrero,” Rodríguez “The Lady in Red,” and millions of dollars “melons,” according to copies of text messages presented to the jury.

“It was all about la Luz,” Cruz said, referring to the Spanish word for light, which Rivera and others repeatedly used to discuss payments from Caracas.

Attorneys for Rivera and Nuhfer said the two acted in good faith and believed they were under no requirement to disclose their work. The three-month, $50-million contract with Rivera’s one-man consulting firm, they say, was focused exclusively on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela — commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera’s meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which occurred after the consulting contract had expired and was focused on ushering in leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the U.S.

“He was working every possible angle to get Nicolás Maduro out,” defense attorney Ed Shohat said during closing arguments. “There was not a word in the chats about normalizing relations.”

Nuhfer’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, likened the government’s case to the 17th century Salem witch trials, presuming ill intent that was belied by the flimsiest of evidence.

“My client does not have a dark heart,” he said.

Exxon meetings for Rodríguez

Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with New York-based PDV USA as cover for illegal lobbying.

Once exposed, the partners tried to hide the work — backdating documents and coming up with sham agreements like one to justify a wire transfer of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín’s luxury yacht.

The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort, the two roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodríguez with the CEO of ExxonMobil that had succeeded Trump’s then-secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. After a secret meeting in Caracas with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump.

The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a “dictator,” launching a “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat the president.

However, nearly a decade later, Rodríguez has emerged as the second Trump administration’s trusted partner after the U.S. military’s ousting of Maduro.

Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator. During that time, he shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker.

Rivera has previously faced controversy, including allegations that he secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012 congressional race. Last year, federal prosecutors dropped the case after an appeals court threw out a sizable fine imposed by a lower court. Rivera was also investigated — but never charged — for alleged campaign finance violations and a $1-million contract with a gambling company while serving in the Florida legislature.

Goodman writes for the Associated Press.