Ok so now I'm onto part 2 of my posts on the French Open as I will cover days 3 and 4, as the action continues for the 1st and 2nd round matches, and already we have seen some terrific stuff in the first few days and some great matches so let's have a look at the results...
So to kick off let's start with day 3 and the ladies matches, starting off with Marion Bartoli who played a cracker of a match against Olga Govortsova, as the two of them battled it out on Philippe Chatrier with play taken to a decisive set. And in the 3rd set Bartoli went a break down with Olga serving for the match, Bartoli showed her battling qualities as she broke back and then went on to break Olga's serve at 5-5 and then finally after four match points went on to serve out the match after a gruelling 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 win. This was a great encounter and once again it shows just why Marion Bartoli is one of the best players on the tour, and she is almost the female equivalent of David Ferrer, in her relentless nature and her ability to chase down a ball, and it was great to see her come through this one. Elena Baltacha however was far from fortunate in comparison as she went up against Marina Erakovic of Australia, who hammered poor Bally in 6-3, 6-0 to mark a poor end to her tournament.
Due to the heavy rain delays a few of the ladies matches were delayed on Day 3, so I will move onto Day 4, which saw Victoria Azarenka make her first round appearance against Elena Vesnina, and she had little trouble in getting past the Russian and dismissed her in 6-1, 6-4. Serena Williams moved effortlessly through in her 2nd round match against Caroline Garcia as she only conceded 3 games enroute to the 3rd round with an easy peasy 6-1, 6-2 win. Petra Kvitova also made it through in a tougher test against Aravane Rezai as she fought past her opponent in 3 sets to secure a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win.
Caroline Wozniacki however after an impressive start against Laura Robson in the first round, regressed to her decline in form as she was outdone by the Serb player, Bojana Bovanovski after losing the first set tiebreak, she went further downhill in the 2nd as she was broken and the Bojana served out the match with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This really is showing some worrying signs over Caroline's form once again and I'm sure this is one clay court season she will want to forget asap having only won one match on that surface! And its hard to believe that this is the same player who only two years ago was at the top of the rankings and was winning most of the tournaments on the tour at that time. So let's hope Caroline regroups her form for the grass court season, or if not then for the hard court season later in the year
Sam Stosur also made her debut on court and she displayed top form as she dismissed the Japanese player and oldest lady in the draw, at 42, Kimiko Date Krumm, with Sam just dropping two games and winning in 6-0, 6-2. Sara Errani last year's finalist, also continued to show her very impressive clay court form as she dispatched Yulia Putintseva of Kazhakstan with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Angelique Kerber also scooshed her way through to the 3rd round with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Jana Cepelova. And Ana Ivanovic also showed her impressive form by dimissing Mathilde Johansson of Sweden in a popular scoreline (today anyway!) of 6-2, 6-2.
And finally I will get on to Heather Watson who less than fortunate in her match against the Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland, but she fared alot better than her other two compatriots, as Heather battled against the Swiss player and pushed play into a 3rd set. However in the 3rd set Heather dropped her serve and Vogele consolidated the break and went on to serve out the match with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win. This wasn't too bad a result for Heather's first match back on tour since recovering from glandular fever and even though she lost, it does show that she is still playing good tennis and all she needs is more matchplay under belt and once she does then her game will pick up and hopefully she will get some good wins.
So moving onto the men's starting with Novak Djokovic who had a hell of a wait to get out on court on day 3 due to the heavy rain, but he later did and he took on his opponent in the first round which was the plucky and very talented young Belgian player, David Goffin. And right from the start Goffin wooed the crowd with some very aggressive tennis and tremendous shot making as he really took it to Djokovic on serve, and he pushed the first set to a tiebreak, but Djokovic broke to win it. In the 2nd set Nole broke Goffin, but the spirited young Belgian player broke back to make it 4-4, but then Nole broke him again and went on to take a 2 sets to love lead. In the 3rd it was a tight affair and it went by serve until 5-5 when Nole made the break and served out the match with a 7-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. This really was a highly entertaining match and Goffin once again showed on the big stage how talented and varied a player he is, and Novak rightly gave him respect afterwards, but it was inevitable that Nole would win it being the champ he is.
Stan Wawrinka, now having broken into the top 10 (as he's now ranked 10!) overcame a tough opener as he defeated Thiemo de Bakker in 4 sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. Gael Monfils also continued to show his gutsy form as he fought his way past the talented (and annoyingly cocky!) Ernest Gulbis in a 4 setter, after dropping the first set, and winning in 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. Milos Raonic also continued his good clay court form as he made it past the Frenchman, Michael Llodra in a tight four setter, winnning in 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the French No.1 also continued his fine form with a tight straight set win over Jarkko Nieminen with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win. Marin Cilic breezed past his opponent the cool named Nick Kygiros with a straight forward 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Nicolas Almagro had no trouble in getting Eduardo Roger Vasselin in 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. And David Ferrer continued his strong clay court form by dismissing his fellow compatriot Albert Montanes with a straight set win in 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
And finally Roger Federer showed signs of rustiness as he seriously struggled against his opponent from India, Somdev Devarrman, who put up a terrific battle..... oh hang wait! That was in bullshitville for a second there! No back to the land of reality, Roger had very little trouble against his young Indian opponent and he barely broke a sweat against him and raced to a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win in under 1 hour and a half. However things will get tougher for Federer from here as he will next face Julienne Benneateau who took him the distance last year at Wimbledon, so we will see how his next match pans out, but Benneateau did have a lenghthy 5 set match in his 2nd round match, so it might go against him, so we will wait and see.
And that is it for now, I will post back with more on day 5 and 6 in a couple of days, which will cover the remainder of the 2nd round matches and maybe one or two of the 3rd round ones, weather permitting no doubt!
Till then bye for now!
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