OK so its time for my first post on the 2013 French Open from Roland Garros, the second grand slam of the season on the lovely courts in Paris, where the best of the men's and ladies are battling it out for that rather nice silveware. So as there is a bit to cover let's have a look....
Right well to start off with the ladies, the first match up on Philippe Chatrier of the event, which was between Ana Ivanovic, the former French champion and Petra Martic. The match itself was a quite tough and entertaining encounter as after taking the opening set with fair ease, Ivanovic was on the receving end of a fightback in the 2nd set and Martic broke her to take level the match. In the 3rd set it was nip and tuck, with Ivanovic taking a decisive 4-0 lead but Martic broke back, however it was short lived as Ivanovic moved ahead and sealed her 2nd round place with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win. Serena Williams was up next and any fears that she might have been haunted by the scars of her first round defeat last year were quickly dissapated as she thrashed her opponent, Anna Tatishvilli with no mercy in a brusing 6-0, 6-1 victory. Serena also after the match went on to impressive the audience with her linguistic skills as her on court interview was spoken entirely in French (not bad eh??!).
In other ladies matches and what turned out to be the match of the first day, Venus Williams took on the younger sister of Agnieszka, Urusula Radwanska in an epic battle, as the Venus looked the worse for wear at times, as she struggled badly on serve and Radwanska had multiple chances to serve out for the 1st set, and it eventually took a tiebreak to separate them with the young Ursula moving ahead. In the 2nd set more breaks of serve aplenty and play went again to a tiebreak, where Venus claimed the breaker to level the match, and in the 3rd Ursula finally made her move and won it after an exhaustive 3 hours and 20 minutes with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 win. This was quite a win for Ursula Radwanska who so far has remained in the shadow of her older sister, but with wins like this it might just help her emerge more in the future, as she has already shown great promise as a new and upcoming player.
On Day 2 matches on the ladies side we had Maria Sharapova, the defending champion, who wasted little time on court against her Asian opponent Su-Wei Hsieh, as she blasted her off the court in just an hour with a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing. Li Na the former champion also put in an impressive performance against the clay court specialist, Annabel Medina Garrigues, as she claimed her first clay court win over her in 6-3, 6-4. Agnieszka Radwanska was also in action and she wasted precious little time against her opponent Shahar Peer with a swift 6-1, 6-1 victory. And Angelique Kerber (saucy!) took on her fellow German opponent, Mona Barthel and after a close first set, Angie went on to win comfortably in the 2nd with the final score reading 7-6, 6-2.
And lastly I will mention Laura Robson who took on the 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki, who came into the French in poor form having sustained four successive defeats on clay already this season, so the chances of another upset looked likely. However Caroline soon dispelled any such thoughts as she breezed her way past an error prone Laura Robson, who once again struggled badly on her serve, making 40 unforced errors and served six doubles in the match, with Caroline finally winning in 6-3, 6-2. This was a big letdown for Laura who had actually taken a couple of impressive scalps during her clay season having beaten Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams in Madrid and Rome respectively. However Laura just couldn't get things going and once her main achilles heel turned out to be her serve, as she continued to make more double faults, and she more crucially played these on break points. And if Laura wants to continue to improve she needs not only a new coach (which she does anyway as she is without one) but she needs to work on that serve, otherwise she will continue to struggle. Anyway let's hope Laura has better luck in the grass court season.
Which brings me onto the men's starting with Roger Federer on day 1 who played against a Spanish qualifier, Pablo Carreno-Busta, who has had great success on the Satelitte level tour, having won 7 titles already. However in the big bad world at grand slam tennis, it doesn't count for much as Roger proceded to school the young Spaniard and dismissed him with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, to show just how good his form currently is. It really was an impressive start from Roger in Paris, and although he arguably has a much easier path enroute to the final without either Rafa or Djokovic in his side of the draw, but we will see how it pans out for him. David Ferrer, the 4th seed also had an easy time of it against the Australian, Marinko Matosevic, who he eased past in 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, despite the odd wobble here and there.
Next up we had in the match of day 1, Gilles Simon, the Frenchman take on Lleyton Hewitt, who came out the blocks firing, and raced to a two sets to love lead. With alot of work ahead, Simon dug deep in the 3rd set and he broke and went on to win the 3rd and he levelled by taking the 4th. In the 5th set, Hewitt went off the boil, with Simon breaking twice and in a position to serve for the match at 5-1. But Hewitt was not done yet as he battled back into the set and reeled off the next four games to level the scores at 5-5, but Simon after holding to go 6-5, finally managed to seal the deal and close out a dramatic match in 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5. This was a terrific encounter between the two men and the last set in particular had some great moments, especially Hewitt's fightback, which shows that you never can him out, as he is one of the great competitors in the game. But this was a great win for Simon and it marked the first time he had ever come back from two sets to love down in a grand slam match.
On day 2 in the men's we had Rafa take to the Philippe Chatrier and he faced the tall German, Daniel Brands, and on paper this sounded like a routine match. However it turned out to be quite opposite as Rafa really faced a stern test against Brands, who came out with a gameplan and played very aggressive tennis, and he did what no one expected in taking the opening set. In the second set Brands continued his aggressive play and it went to a tiebreak, where Brands took a 3-0 lead, but in the end Rafa fought back and went on to win the breaker and level the match. And from here Rafa took control of the match as Brands eventually faded as Rafa grinded out a tough opening win in just under 3 hours with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. This was a surprisingly tough opener for Rafa, and already it shows that Rafa isn't quite at his best yet, although its safe to say that nerves probably a part in that. Although Brands for two sets did play terrific tennis and he deserves credit for his part in the match, but in the end the great champs always know how to come through and Rafa did just that.
In other matches Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got his campaign off to a confident start as the French No.1, dismissing his opponent Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in just 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. This hopefully will see Tsonga do well this year at the French as he did last year when he came agonisingly close to beating Novak Djokovic but just missed out, although Tsonga may face Roger in the quarter finals this year so we'll see how they get on enroute. Richard Gasquet, the French No.2, also wasted little time in his match against Sergei Stakhovsky and he swept past the Ukranian in 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
But the match of the day came from a much anticipated clash between Tomas Berdych, the 5th seed and the former top 10 French player, Gael Monfils, which promised to be quite a cracker. And it turned out to be just that and for just over four hours both men put on a terrific display of tennis for the near full capacity Philippe Chatrier crowd. Monfils got off the better start as he took a two sets to love lead against Berdych with a surprising display of aggression and terrific serving. Berdych however was not to be outdone and fought back well as he took the 3rd and 4th sets to level the match and push it to a decider. And the 5th set went by serve until 5-5 when Monfils made the crucial break, and from there went on to serve out a gruelling battle, with an enthusiastic roar from the Parisian crowd, the final score reading 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5.
Its great to see the last match of the day be a cracker and this certainly was a great match between the two men, and I have to say it was quite a surprise to see Monfils come out on top in this one, but he deserves all the credit as he played a great match with the French crowd clearly fuelling him. As for Tomas Berdych well its a shame in a way he has gone out so early here, as he had quite an impressive clay court season up until now and to go out so early I'm sure will be a real letdown for him. But the big Czeck I guess will just have to refocus and move onto the grass courts as he will return to the action at Queens in London, where he will play there for the first time. But in the meantime well done again to Monfils and let's hope he continues to do well in Paris.
So that's it for now, more to follow on the French Open soon.
Till the next time bye for nooow.
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