Roland Garros - 2009 French Open

juvenal

The second Grand Slam of the 2009 season kicks off on Sunday, and on the men's side, four-time defending champion and world #1 Rafael Nadal is the man to beat again. He will face a qualifier in his opening round match, and assuming he comes through the early rounds with no problems, he could face #8 seed Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals in the top part of the draw.

#2 seed and recent Madrid Masters champion Roger Federer, opens his tournament against Spaniard Alberto Martin. Federer, who beat Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in last week's clay-court final in Madrid, could run into #6 seed Andy Roddick or #11 seed Gael Monfils in the later rounds should he advance.

#3 seed Andy Murray faces a potentially tricky opener against clay-court specialist and former world #15 Juan Ignacio Chela. The Argentine is now ranked 205th in the world, but could still give Murray a stern test in their first-round clash. If Murray goes on a run, he could potentially meet #7 seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon or #12 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the later rounds.

#4 seed Novak Djokovic will face Ecuadoran Nicolas Lapentti in his first-round match, and that quarter of the draw also includes #5 seed Juan Martin Del Potro and #9 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It would be no surprise to see one of the French players to go on a long run buoyed by the home crowd support.

On the women's side, world #1 Dinara Safina will face Britain's Anne Keothavong in the first round, while #2 seed Serena Williams faces Klara Zakopalova.

#3 seed Venus Williams is drawn against fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and the #4 seed Russian Elena Dementieva opens against a qualifier.

Television coverage will be on Eurosport in Ireland, with highlights programmes daily on TG4 leading into live coverage on the Irish language channel during the second week. The coverage starts with a preview program on TG4 at 8.30pm tonight (Friday), repeated at 11.30am on Saturday. Also available via the BBC Red Button, with live streaming and daily text commentary on BBC Sport website.

Sea Devils

Haven't been following it a whole lot but saw that Hewitt came back from two sets down to beat Karlovic. Karlovic served up a tournament record 55 aces and still loses (:eek:). Hewitt stuck to his usual passive-backboard game. Safin also went through in straight sets in his last French Open.

Rjd2

Murray won in four sets to advance to the last 32 earlier. He played well in parts but to be honest I still thinking he s learning the clay game and I don't expect him to get to far in this.

cfitz

I'd expect Murray to get past Tipsarevic and Stepanek/Cilic. That would see him into the quarter-finals...

Watched the last 2 sets of the Safin/Ouanna match last night - great stuff. Safin makes things difficult for himself with his temperament, but his style of tennis is quite entertaining (as are his on-court dramatics!). Ouanna looked pretty handy too, will be interesting to see if he makes an impact in the future.

Sharapova had a big win against Petrova. She's playing a qualifier, Shvedova, in the 3rd round but it might not be plain sailing - Shvedova seems to be in form recently and she's already knocked out Kaia Kanepi who I thought was a possible semi-finalist.

Blisterman

Anyone watching the Acasuso v Federer Match?

Been a surprisingly close match so far.
Federer's Leading 2 sets to 1 at the moment, but both his sets have gone to tiebreak.

Not bad for an unseeded player. Don't think he can go the distance though. He's beginning to falter.

juvenal

Just turned it on a few minutes ago to see Federer break again for a 4-1 lead.

Surprised at how close the first three sets were, didn't see any of them thought. Federer now leads 5-2 and will serve for the match.

Which he does, serving out to love and wins 12 of the last 14 games. 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Blisterman

Shame for Acasuso. He could have so easily won it in three sets. But once you pass three hours, Federer's just gonna have more pace than nearly anyone.

juvenal

Just watched a very entertaining match between Tsonga and Juan Monaco. Tsonga prevailed in four sets, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).

cfitz

Hard tell much from the Federer match, he seems to use the early rounds to vary his game, sort of like a football manager using pre-season friendlies to try out young players. The guy is a joy to watch though, unless Nadal starts to vary his game a lot, I think I'll always prefer Roger.

Djokovic looked super yesterday, but he seemed to tighten up a bit when it was time to close out the second set. Venus Williams had a great match with Lucie Safarova, looked like it could go either way as Venus even had to save a match point but she'll probably come out the better for it.

juvenal

cfitz wrote: »

Hard tell much from the Federer match, he seems to use the early rounds to vary his game, sort of like a football manager using pre-season friendlies to try out young players. The guy is a joy to watch though, unless Nadal starts to vary his game a lot, I think I'll always prefer Roger.

I'd agree with this to a degree - as he showed in Madrid, he's shortening points and trying to avoid being drawn into long rallies where his opponent can control the point. It's encouraging to see that Federer appears to be trying some different tactics, and that may be part of the reason he's not winning the early matches in straight sets.

Nadal just laid down another marker of his form, as he brushed aside Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Hewitt played well in parts, and tried to force Nadal to hit difficult winners, but the Spaniard just had too much for him.

Romanian Victor Hanescu also beat seventh seed Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4 6-2, although I think Simon was carrying an injury for part of that match. The days biggest news so far is that #3 seed Venus William's crashed out to #29 seed Agnes Szavay 6-0, 6-4.

Andy Murray has just arrived on Court Suzanne Lenglen and will shortly begin his third round match against Janko Tipsarevic.

juvenal

Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber has just stunned #4 seed Novak Djokovic with a straight sets win, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

#2 seed Roger Federer is up against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Mathieu took the first set 6-4, before Federer stormed back to level taking the second set 6-1. They're just beginning the third set now.

juvenal

Federer comes through again Mathieu in four sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, in a very entertaining match. Both players hit a huge amount of winners, and had some great rallies throughout the latter two sets especially.

Mathieu can take a great amount of cinfidence from his performance, although he may be a little frustrated that he couldn't build on the opening set.

Federer showed a great amount of variation, and when his first serve is firing, he looks to be getting into some real form. He'll meet Tommy Haas in the fourth round.

Marshy

Federer has played well when he's had to so far. Was impressive against Mathieu who put up quite a good fight.

I still don't think he's on a level where he can beat Rafa in the final but I guess if that match materialises again he would surely hope to improve on last years embarassment.

Djokovic's loss was a surprise to me, I thought he'd contend but the straight sets defeat proved he's not there yet.

I don't think Murray has enough yet to really trouble Nadal either if they meet in the semis. I think the winner of Tsonga v Del Potro could be an outside bet though. Especially the Argentine, he seems to be playing very well.

juvenal

Forget about Novak, forget about Venus, THE news of the 2009 French Open is the World number 1, number 1 seed and four times French Open champion Rafael Nadal has been beaten for the first time EVER at Roland Garros by #23 seed Swede Robin Soderling. Soderling wins in four sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.

sxt

SODERLING Beats RAFAEL NADAL 6-2 6-7 6-4 7-6 ! :eek:

Aaron M

Just watching it there now. Federer will absolutely be chomping at the bit to get out there and claim this title now. It's there for the taking!

walshb

Aaron M wrote: »

Just watching it there now. Federer will absolutely be chomping at the bit to get out there and claim this title now. It's there for the taking!

Before the tournament, I wasn't too confident of Fed even making the final, but since his win in the Madrid match a couple of weeks ago, it has shown he still has the game.
Will he now be able to up his game and seize the only slam left for him
to win? A French open win will IMO definitely elevate him past Sampras.

Fed has the ability and skill on clay, it was just the fact that he kept meeting a clay
legend. Sampras has nowhere near as good a record on clay as Fed.

This French win for Fed, fingers crossed, will simply show that overall, he
is history's most complete player. hope he does it, but it's still
far from a given.

Soderling will have to be looked at very seriously!

Not sure exactly about he draw, but wouldn't it be an
absolute sickener if Murray bagged his 1st slam and beat
Fed in the final to take it? That would probably hurt Fed more than
any Nadal loss!

Marshy

That loss for Rafa came completely out of the blue. That said he didn't look at his best in Madrid when Federer beat him well in the final and Djokovic should have beaten him too.

Roger must think all his Xmas' have come at once now with both Nadal and Djokovic out. Looking at the draw, the 2 players that'll challenge him most will probably be Murray and Del Potro, though if he's at his best he will beat both.

He'll never have a better chance than this to win the elusive French.

Blisterman

Almost fell out of my seat when I heard that.

Wouldn't it be strange if Federer won the French Open and Nadal, the other three grand slams this year?

Aaron M

Federer must think he's in dreamland. He could never have seriously imagined that both Djokovic and Nadal would be knocked out before the quarter final stage.

As you pointed out Marshy, Murray and Del Potro are obviously the two main challengers left now. Murray is the obvious fly in the ointment - if only for the fact that he can annoy Federer and get underneath his skin. I think a Federer playing at even 80% - 85% would still have enough to beat the rest of the players in the draw over the longer 5 set matches. Not a foregone conclusion of course.

One thing's for sure. Federer never will get a better chance than this to win the French and complete a career Grand Slam, not to mention equaling Pete Sampras' record haul of 14 majors.

juvenal

After a shocking Sunday in Paris, during which defending champions Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were knocked out by Robin Soderling and Victoria Azarenka respectively. Other results included #3 seed Andy Murray winning in straight sets against #13 Crotian Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, and #10 seed Nickolay Davydenko beating #8 Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Tomorrow's (Monday) action see a number of key matches taking place, including #2 seed Roger Federer taking on German Tommy Haas on Court Phillipe Chatrier, followed by a potentially mouth-watering clash between #5 Juan Martin Del Potro and hometown hero #9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Full schedule for tomorrow's play available here.

Aaron M

Some great matches there. Roddick against Monfils could be a cracker as well.

Federer is currently a set down against Haas but leads with a break of serve in the second.

EDIT:

Federer has just gone 2 sets to love DOWN against Tommy Haas! What is going on? Do any of the top seeds actually WANT to win this tournament!?

Roger is playing some awful stuff out there. Not at the races at all. His hopes are hanging by a thread!

Marshy

Fed two sets to love down against Haas now, playing some awful stuff. Is he blowing his best chance ever to win the French...

juvenal

Federer now in real trouble against Haas, as the German takes the second set 7-5 to lead two sets to love.

I said last night after Nadal's loss that Federer could be the next to fall in an ironic twist!

juvenal

At this stage it's looking increasingly unlikely that Federer is going to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Haas leads 4-3 with the third set on serve so far. Federer may have had a half-chance at 30-30 in the seventh game, but dumped a forehand into the net and then sent another one long to give Haas the game.

Federer's service game goes to 15-15, before a couple of nice forehands gets him ahead before another mis-hit brings it back to 30-30. Another forehand error hands Haas a break point, and Federer saves it with a big crosscourt forehand to bring it to deuce. Two big serves from Fed and we're still on serve at 4-4.

The crowd are really getting behind Federer now.

juvenal

Haas, leading 40-15 in game nine, nets a forehand, before double-faulting to give Federer a chance at deuce. He pulls a forehand wide, and Federer has a chance at break-point here. A long rally ensues, with Federer rescuing a hard Haas forehand with a sliced lob, before Haas vollies long and Federer will serve for the set at 5-4.

Federer serving with new balls, and the crowd 100% behind the Swiss #2, and he holds serve to 15 and takes the third set 6-4. After being down a break point at 3-4, he's still alive here as we go into set number 4.

juvenal

Federer breaks Haas three times in the fourth set and serves out to win the fourth set 6-0. We're into a fifth set now, and although Federer is in the ascendancy, Haas will lead off the deciding set with serve.

The early games are crucial here. Federer's last five-setter was in the final of the Australian Open in February against a certain Spaniard.

juvenal

After failing to win a service game in set #4, Haas hold to love in the opening game of the fifth set, before incredibly getting a 0-30 lead on Federer's serve. Federer wins the next four points in the row and we remain on serve at 1-1.

Federer gets to 0-15 in the third game, although Haas then holds out comfortably to 15 and to lead 2-1 with Federer serving.

juvenal

Federer has a break point at 30-40 in game five, before Haas saves it with a forehand winner. Haas mis-hits to give Federer another break point, and then sends a forehand long to hand Federer the break.

Federer holds comfortably in game six, hitting three aces in a row, and Haas looks to be on the ropes serving at 2-4.

Federer is a renaissance man now, with three break points in game seven, and he only needs one as he breaks Haas to love with a backhand winner and will serve for the set at 5-2. What a turnaround.

juvenal

More drama!

Federer goes to 30-0, before Haas fights back to a break point at 30-40. Federer saves the break to go to deuce, and Haas sends a backhand wide to give Federer his first match point. Haas saves that with a lovely cross court backhand return as Federer is coming for the serve-and-volley on second serve.

Federer takes advantage again with a sliced forehand drop shot, and Haas cannot keep the return in and Federer wins: 6-7 (4-7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

He really got out of jail there in the third set, as he faced a break point, but his serving kept him in it.

Federer keeps the French Open dream alive and will face the winner of Andy Roddick/Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals, probably on Wednesday.

juvenal

After Del Potro running away with the first set 6-1, Tsonga begins to find his range and takes the second set after a tie-breaker, 7-6 (7-5).