Right so now I'm onto the 3rd of my entries on the French Open which will cover days 5 and 6 for the mens and ladies matches, which covers the 2nd and 3rd round matches, so let's give it a look..
OK starting with ladies first on day 5 and the first match I'll look at was the biggest upset on the ladies side of the tournament so far, which was Li Na who suffered a shock defeat to the American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Li Na was in control early on and took the 1st set, but after a rain delay and play resumed Li appeared to lose her concentration and Mattek-sands took advantage and levelled the match at a set all, and in the decider she went on to break Li twice and seal one of her biggest wins with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win. This quite an upset and I think Li Na struggled to keep her consistency after the rain delay which ultimately cost her the match, which was a pity as it would have been good to see her win through, but Bethanie did well in her victory. Next up we had Sam Stosur who took on Kristina Mledenovic and she put in a convincing performance and dismissed her opponent in 6-4, 6-3. Stosur is a natural clay court player so its good to see her do well again on the red dirt, especially as she had reached the final three years ago and the semis last year. Victoria Azarenka also played her match against Annika Beck, and Vika did get off to a sluggish start and she was put through a tough opening set that lasted nearly 1 hour and 10 minutes, but she Vika won the opener and broke in the 2nd set to win 6-4, 6-3.
On Day 6 we had Marion Bartoli kick off the action against Mariana Duque of Colombia who gave the French No.1 a stern test, with Bartoli even being 5-2 down in the first set at one point, before regaining her form to push the match to a tiebreak which she won. In the 2nd set it was tight again as play went to 5-5 and Bartoli broke to eventually win the match with a 7-6, 7-5 scoreline. Maria Sharapova wasted little time in her match as she had to play a day later due to the rain delays, and she beat Eugenie Bouchard in 6-2, 6-4. Serena Williams also continued her scary form as she totally demolished Sorana Cristea of Romania and conceded just two games in the process with a 6-0, 6-2 gubbing, this sees her having only dropped six games in the tournament so far! Agnieszka Radwanska also made it past Dinah Pfizenamier of Germany with a comfortable straight set win of 6-3, 6-4 to reach the 4th round of the tournament. Angelique Kerber also progressed to the 4th round but she had a much tougher match against the American Vervara Lepchenko, as Kerber battled past her in 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
And finally getting on some of the Italian players first up we had Sara Errani continued her superb form in Paris with an emphatic victory of Sabine Lisicki (very nice!) in straight sets with a 6-0, 6-4 win. Errani is looking pretty ominous so far and although she lacks the power to take out the big hitters like Maria and Serena, she will still pose a strong threat to everyone else, so she will no doubt go deep. Roberta Vinci also made it past Petra Cetkovska in a tougher match as she was taken the distance and came through in 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. And lastly the former champion, Francesca Schiavone, who usually saves her best form for this event, had to fight past the Belgian player Kirsten Flipkens, but she triumphed with an eventual 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 score. This sets up a hugely intruiging 3rd round encounter with Marion Bartoli, which promises to be quite a cracker of a match, although Schiavone comfortably won their last meeting in Paris two years ago, so we will see how it pans out this time.
So now onto the guys matches, starting with day 5 as we had Novak Djokovic take on Guido Pella whom he had no problem getting by at all and probably didnt even break a sweat as he hammered the Argentine in 6-2, 6-0, 6-2. This is quite an emphatic result, but it will set up a much tougher and far more interesting match with Grigor Dimitrov who defeated Nole back in Madrid earlier this month in the 3rd round, which promises to be a cracker.
Now I''ll move onto day 6 as there were alot of matches being suspended due to the rain and to start I will mention Rafa who faced Martin Klizan, the Slovak player in his 2nd round encounter. Rafa however continued his rusty form from the 1st round as he dropped the opening set to Klizan, but after a slow start Rafa soon cranked up the gears and broke his opponent in the 2nd set and claimed it. And it was the same story in sets 3 and 4, but Klizan did still put up a good fight, however it was Rafa that inevitably won out in 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. This does show one or two slightly troubling signs for Rafa as he has gotten off to another slow start in this match, but no doubt he will pick up as the rounds carry on. Rafa was also pretty riled by the scheduling as he felt it wasn't fair how his match scheduled due to the rain delays and how he felt other players got a better deal than he did. So that means that Rafa will need to play his 3rd round match against Fabio Fognini on Saturday.
So next up we had Roger Federer who so far has moved effortlessly in his progress and in his 3rd round against Julienne Benneteau he continued to remain largely unthreatened. Although Benneteau did pose a slightly bigger threat than Roger's opponents so far, and he kept the scoreboard close but Roger broke the Frenchman easily in each set when it mattered and he closed out a rapid paced but entertaining match in 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. So Rog will next face Gilles Simon, another Frenchie who battled his way past Sam Querrey in 5 sets, so poor Gilles might end up being on the receiving end of a hammering but we will wait and see. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also showed some really good form against his fellow countryman Jeremy Chardy and he wasted little time in dispatching him with a 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 win. David Ferrer also made it past his fellow compatriot Feliciano Lopez with a straight sets win in 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to set up a 4th round encounter with the giant South African fella, Kevin Anderson, who took out Milos Raonic in straight sets.
And the last match I will mention will be Gael Monfils, yet another French player who has made an impressive comeback on the tour this year, and made some good progress in the tournament so far. However Monfils came up against a real stern opponent in the Spanish player, Tommy Robredo, and despite taking a two sets to love lead, Monfils soon found himself on the recieving end of a fightback from the Spaniard. However Monfils in the 4th set had four match points against Robredo, but he was unable to take any of them as Robredo fought back and played aggressively to stay in the match and he soon levelled the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set, Monfils started to show signs of fatigue as he cramped up, and ran out of steam, with Robredo breaking Monfils twice and his heart with it as he completed his remarkable fightback from two sets down with a 2-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2 victory.
I have to say I was a bit disappointed for Monfils that he lost this match as he had an excellent chance of closing the match out in the 4th set at 5-3 as Robredo went match point down twice, but Monfils let him off the hook, and when Monfils tried to serve it out he got tight and it was 5-5 before we knew it. However despite his loss, Monfils has shown great promise this week in his form and if he carries on like this it won't be long before he rises back up in the rankings again to the top 20 or even top 10. As for Tommy Robredo he deserves alot of credit also for completing such a remarkable comeback, as he also had to fight from two sets to love down in his 2nd round match as well. Next up for him will be a clash with Nicolas Almagro, who has also been in great form so far in this tournament, so I would expect Almagro however to come through that one.
So that's it for now, more to follow on the men's and ladies matches over the next couple of days as I will cover days 7 and 8 in the next post.
Till then bye for nowww!
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