Right OK so this will be my first post on the 2015 French open which is a bit later than anticipated and so far it has been an excellent tournament with plenty of exciting matches and a few upsets along the way.
So in contrast to my previous detailed posts I've decided to keep things a bit more brief to get myself up to speed so I will instead quickly go through the top seeds of the men's and ladies and mention a bit about their progress so far.
So without further ados let's get on with it....
Right so this post will start with the ladies top seeds who are still in for now and this post will cover the first 8 days of play...
Serena Williams - well so far Serena has had a bit of a trying tournament and faced some stern opposition. Serena however did start off well with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 win over Andrea Hlavackova, but she encountered a tough test against in her 2nd round against Ana-Lena Friedsam in which she had to battle from a set and a break down to win the match in 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. And in a much anticipated match, Serena then took on Victoria Azarenka in the 3rd round where again she battled back from a down position losing the first set and also a break down in the 2nd, Serena dug in and went to level and break Vika and win the match with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 result, which sees Serena now into the 2nd week. This match didn't disappointment with momentum toing and froing but ultimaltely Serena proved once again to be the ultimate champion and there was also some controversy over a line call, which caused a bit of animosity between Serena and Vika although they apparently have smoothed things over since. And while Serena stays in, she will forever be the favourite.
Maria Sharapova - as for Maria well she started things off well enough beating Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-4, despite suffering from a cold and feeling under the weather she opted not to do her on court interview and of course got some stick from the crowd for it (well they are infamous for it!). Maria next faced her compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko in the 2nd round whom she had no problem getting past with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. And in the 3rd round despite a much anticipate cracker, Maria Sharapova made relatively short work of Sam Stosur also in straight sets in 6-3, 6-4 which saw Maria reach the last 16 as well and remains on course for defending her title.
Petra Kvitova - Petra who has had her ups and downs in 2015 so far got her campaign off to a tough start as she had to fight past Marina Erakovic in 3 sets to reach the 2nd round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 result. In the 2nd round Petra took on Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain in another tough match in which Petra had to come from a set down to beat the Spaniard 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. In the 3rd round however Petra had an easier time of it as she took on the Romanian player, Irina-Camelia Begu and won the match in two straights, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16 and the 2nd week. Petra having won the Madrid open title also has a decent outside chance of winning the title in Paris also if the draw works out for her.
Ana Ivanovic - Ana has had a bad run of luck in slams of late going out early she has often struggled to get to the latter stages of slams despite being a former champion at Roland Garros in 2008. And Ana got off to a pretty shaky start this year in Paris as she rallied from a set down to beat Yaroslava Shvedova in 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 and continued to have to fight hard to stay in the tournament in the 2nd round as she battled against Misaki Doi of Japan and came from a set down to beat Doi in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Ana however in the 3rd round start to hit her stride and she delivered a great performance to take down Donna Vekic in 6-0, 6-3 to reach the last 16. And in the 4th round Ana continued her improved form as she fought her way past the 9th seed, Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarter finals for the first time since she won the title back in 2008. Ana appears to so far be going from strength to strength and the fact she is still in the event means she has hope yet to lift a 2nd RG title.
Sara Errani - Sara so far has quietly worked her way through her draw and I could almost draw comparisons to her with David Ferrer as they both have similar styles of play with the incredible speed and athleticism as well as fight and determination. Sara so far has not had it entirely easy so far either as she had to go to 3 sets to overcome her 1st round in Alison Riske winning 7-6, 2-6, 6-0. In the 2nd round Sara played a very entertaining match against Carina Witthoft as she to rally from a a set down to beat her 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Sara however found her form against last year's semi finalist, Andrea Petkovic as she beat the German 6-3, 6-3 to reach the 4th round where she will next faced Julia Goerges for a place in the quarter finals.
As for the unsuccessfuls....
Well so far the players that haven't faired so well and have gone out so far include Caroline Wozniacki, the 5th seed who lost out to the German, Julia Goerges in the 2nd round. Eugenie Bouchard also fell at the first hurdle against Kristina Mladenovic and lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Agnieszka Radwanska who so far has been having a miserable year found things come even worse for her in Paris as she lost in the 1st round to Annika Beck of Germany who won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 which means Aga could plummet even further down the rankings into maybe the top 30! Simona Halep last year's finalist so far has proven to be the biggest scalp in the ladies tournament so far as she also was beaten early on by the veteran Croatian player, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in two sets 7-5, 6-1. Angeliquer Kerber also fell to last year's quarter finalist, Gabrine Muguruza who won in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. And last of all Svetlana Kuznetsova lost out in an epic match against her old rival Francesca Schiavone in an encounter that was of high quality and lasted nearly as long as their incredible 2011 Australian open match which lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes, but this one lasted 3 hours and 49 minutes with the same result as Schiavone edged out Kuznetsova with a remarkable 5-7, 7-6, 10-8 victory.
So that's us up to speed with the ladies now its time to turn to the men's matches so I will be back with that in the next post.
See you in a bit!
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