Rrrrright welcome to my first post on the 2014 French Open, the second grand slam of the tennis season and I will cover the first four days of the tournament on here for the men's and ladies. Now as this is quite a task I will need to condense down the results quite alot this time and I will prvoide a few paragraphs for the key matches of the day. So let's get on the red dirt and have a look at the action so far and first up I'll look at the ladies in this post....
OK so starting with the ladies and day 1 we had Agnieszka Radwanska open the proceedings as she played the first match on Philippe Chatrier of the tournament and she had little trouble in getting past Zhang Shuai of China i 6-3, 6-0. Then we had the defending champion Serena Williams take on the French wildcard, Alize Zim, whom after a slight wobble in the first set dismissed easily in 6-2, 6-1 to secure her place in the second round. Venus Williams also managed to negotiate her way past her opponent Belinda Bencic, dropping just five games on the way and securing her 2nd round place with a 6-4, 6-1 result. And lastly Angelique Kerber also had an easy time of it against the Polish player, Katarzyna Piter as she raced to a 6-3, 6-1 win.
On Day 2 we had Maria Sharapova the fomer champion from 2012 open her campaign against Ksenia Pervak and she had no trouble at all to beat her Russian compatriot (although you would never guess given Sharapova's accent) in 6-1, 6-2. The French No.1, Alize Cornet who has been in good form lately also pulled out a good victory against the Aussie, Ashleigh Barty and routed the lass from Oz winning in 6-2, 6-1. Dominika Cibulkova however had a slightly tougher time of it as she went up against the former conqueror of Serena Williams two years ago at the French, Virginie Razanno, but after a tough first set, the pint sized Slovak player dismissed the French woman in 7-5, 6-0. And lastly Petra Kvitova made it through as she faced off against the Kazhak player, Zarina Diyas and came through 7-5, 6-2.
Onto day 3 this is where the drama began as the last 1st round matches were played and the former 2011 champion, Li Na became one of the biggest casualties of the tournament so far as she was stunned by the French player, Kristina Mladenovic, who beat the No.2 seed, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Given that Li Na was the No. 2 seed and a hot favourite to win the title, this was a puzzling defeat, but it just shows the unpredictability of tennis. Simona Halep on the other hand made light work of her opponent, the Russian, Ailsa Kleybanova, as she went right through her dropping just two games on her way to victory in 6-0, 6-2. Ana Ivanovic also made a solid start to her campaign, also a former champion in 2008 and she defeated Caroline Garcia of France in 6-1, 6-3. Sara Errani on the other hand had a tough time of it in securing her first win of the tournament as she battled it out against the talented American player, Madison Keyes, but after play went a set all, Errani dug deep and ended up securing a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 scoreline to reach the 2nd round. And lastly Heather Watson, who made her way through qualifiers to reach the 1st round, made an impressive start in the main draw as she beat the temperamental Barbora Zalahova-Strycova in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to make the 2nd round. This is a great start for Heather although her next opponent could see that run come to an end as she will be up against Simona Halep of Romania, the World No.4, however they had a tough three set match in Melbourne, so there if Heather plays aggressive she will have a chance, but overall I'd favour Halep on that one.
So now onto day 4 which had even more drama and opened up with Venus Williams who was on the losing end of a real fight against Anna Schmiedlova who came from a set down to beat the American former No.1 in 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Maria Sharapova had a tricky test against the Bulgarian player, Tsetvana Pironkova as she had to fight from a break down in the first set to level and then broke herself to take the 1st set, but the 2nd was easier as Maria got a double break to win the match in 7-5, 6-2. And another seed was upset, the French No.1 and 20th seed, Alize Cornet who took on the very promising and upcoming American player, Taylor Townsend, and despite Cornet being the favourite, it was Townsend who upset the odds and at one point she was a set and a double break up, but Cornet broke back to level the scores to a set all. And the 3rd set had a similar pattern as Townsend went 5-1 up, but Cornet yet again broke back again to a single break. But Taylor finally held her nerve and served out the match to claim a big win and reach the 3rd round of the French Open with a terrific 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Its great to always see a new face emerge on the tour and Taylor Townsend like Sloane Stephens before her, is one to watch out for on the tour in future.
And now last but far from least we had the biggest upset of the tournament so far as Serena Williams faced the Spaniard, Garbine Muguruza, who on paper didn't stand much of a chance against the 17 time slam champion and two time French Open champ. However Muguruza pulled off the near impossible as she played superb aggressive tennis and left Serena flat footed, who barely managed to get herself going and was left frustrated and helpless against the powerful game Muguruza has. And after going a double break down in the 1st set, Serena did the same in the 2nd and there was no way back as Garbine Muguruza served out the match for the win of her career with a remarkable 6-2, 6-2 upset victory. This was a terrific result for Muguruza who pulled of an incredible upset here and after the match Serena congratulated her and said that if she continues to play like that she could win the tournament! Can she??? Not so sure about that, however given this form Muguruza could well go on and have a great run at Roland Garros and if she get's herself into the 2nd week, she will have a good shot at going deep.
Right so that's it for the ladies next is the men's.
See you in a bit...
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