2.30 pm: Caroline Wozniacki is a set up, as is Pironkova, 6-1 for the Dane over Gajdosova, 6-2 for the Bulgarian over Schiavone.
2.20 pm: Rafael Nadal is a break up in the first set, 3-2 over Denis Istomin. Victor Troicki is two sets to one up over Fabio Fognini and Mikhail Youzhny has won the first set of his match against Robin Haase, 6-3.
2.15 pm: Caroline Wozniacki is 4-1 up already, as is Pironkova...
1.52 pm: Caroline Wozniacki is also on court against Jarmila Gajdosova. Caro's down to No.9 in the world but quietly making progress under the radar. Ooh, look at this though - Tsvetana "Wimbledon semi-finalist and Venus' worst nightmare" Pironkova is 2-0 on Francesca "2010 winner, 2011 runner-up" Schiavone! It's early doors though.
1.45 pm: Rafa's out on court. Denis Istomin and the chair umpire are patiently waiting while Rafa eats something from a tube, lines up his bottles, pulls his socks up and down, checks the weather on his smartphone, calls his Mum, does some ironing then finally deigns to come to the net for the toss. I personally would give him a warning every time he did that. GET ON WITH IT! (Sorry about that rant, but punctuality is the pride of princes in my book).
1.35 pm: After a laboured first hour, Murray has cruised through the second half of the match to defeat Nieminen 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. How will his back - which has been plaguing him since Barcelona this year - hold up for the next 10 days? We'll find out more on Saturday when he plays Santiago Giraldo.
1.30 pm: Tsonga is through, dropping just two games today! Now that was impressive! The French No.5 seed is all smiles, as you'd imgaine, and will face the winner of (No.28 seed) Troicki and (last year's quarter-finalist) Fognini.
1.25 pm: Murray leads 3-1 in the fourth. His movements are a lot smoother now, to say the least. Troicki-Fognini (a set apiece) is now back under way.
1.21 pm: There's a packed programme today on Lenglen but after Pet Kvit did her bit with a straight-sets win, Tsonga is also obliging. 6-2 in the third, 4-1 service to come in the fourth. Kerber-Govotsova (1-2, Olga to serve) is about to recommence as Goffin - Clement (5-1 to the Belgian in the fifth) is back under way. Ha! La Cle was 30-0 up but Goffin won four points in a row and is through to round three to face Lukasz Kubot. Clement is now receiving a commemorative trophy for his achievements as this is his last appearance at the French Open.
1.11 pm: Raonic wins the battle of the 49th parallel in striaght sets, and the No.19 seed will likely face the No.13 seed next up, as Juan Monaco is two sets to the good. Looks like Lukas Rosol will take him to a breaker in the third though.
1.03 pm: Ferrer is through, 3, 3 and 2 and will face the winner of Haase/Youzhny in the third round. Paire played well throughout and saved five match points in that final game! And Santiago Giraldo has ousted No.25 seed Bernard Tomic in straight sets! The unheralded Colombian has earned a crack at MUrray (who has just taken the third set 6-1) or Nieminen.
12.54 pm: Ferrer is just two games away from the third round. It's a fun match to watch as Paire is going for his shots with the No.1 Court crowd behind him, which is the only way to play against someone as good on clay as Ferrer is.
12.50 pm: Murray stares down a couple of break points, changes racquets and holds to lead 3-0. MaKiri takes it to a decider against Madame Klara and we're also into a third set between Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkova and Melinda Czink, with the Russian single-handedly bidding to oust every Hungarian in the tournament, after defeating Greta Arn in the first round. The winners of those two ties will meet in the third.
12.43 pm: Tsonga breaks to open, so leads 3-1. He needed that. Tomic has lost the second set as well, and though he broke to open the third, Giraldo has broken him back. Raonic leads the battle of the 49th parallel 2-0, having 7-5d the second set over Levine, and MaKiri is serving for the second set in the battle of the babes (but has just saved a break point. Deuce there).
And lookie here, Murray has broken to open the third. Looks like his back has been unblocked good and proper.
12.39 pm: Murray's back in business. 6-4. One set all. Back's looking fine now, but he's still grimacing every so often, lest we forget. Ferrer's taken another 6-3 set and is six games from home, while fan-favourite Pico Monaco is in his stride. After a first set tie-break, he bageled the second over Lukas Rosol - as befits a No.13 seed. Giraldo
12.27 pm: Murray breaks back! He's moving better. 4-4, so he still needs to break again or win a tie-break, and then take another two. Plenty of work left. Jark the Sjark'll be kicking himself though. Elsewhere Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried, Jo-Wil, JDub, is back to finish off what he started last night. He and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe are 1-1 in what is the equivalent of the first set of a best-of-three, having taken one each last night. Stebe'll be quick out of the block but lacks stamina to finish off a match - this being a case of "first to 11 games" today will suit the German right down to the ground.
12. 18 pm: First winner of the day and it's my little Pet Kvit! Kvitova defeats the younger Miss Radwanska 1 and 3 and the Wimbledon champ will play the winner of Bratchikova / Feuerstein in two days time, weather permitting (it's sunny but cool here at the moment - poifect tennis weather).
12.04 pm: A late break for Madame Zakopalova gives her the opener over MaKiri. Jark the Shark leads 3-1, and both Ferrer and Giraldo are up by a set and 2-0. Monaco took the breaker over Rosol.
12 pm: Murray holds to love. Get real Jarkko. Get the drop-shot out of your kitbag, play the angles. He's still a break up but I can see immobile Murray breaking back here.
11.55 am: Nieminen breaks via deuce to open the second set. The Scotsman's nae looking a happy puppy oot there, as they say.
11.48 am: 6-1 Nieminen and Murray's getting more treatment on his sacro-iliac. Elsewhere Colombian Santiago Giraldo is 5-4 up and serving for the set against the youngest man in the draw, Bernard Tomic. Lukas Rosol - Juan Monaco looks like going to a breaker, and that could also be the case in the *ahem* highly photogenic match-up between Maria Krirlenko and Klara Zakopalova. I need to listen in to see whether the ump. is saying "Jeu Mademoiselle Zakopalova" or "Jeu Madame Zakopalova" - they kept saying the former at the Open GDF Suez (the WTA tournament held just down the road from here in February, co-run by Amelie Maursemo) but it should be the latter as she's married.
11.44 am: While all this Murray hoo-hah is going on, my little Pet Kvit has quietly snaffled the first set 6-1. That's a pro. No messing around (not that I'm saying Murray is, but Pet's all business). Paire meanwhile is struggling: he was 40-0 on service at 2-2 but got broken and now it's 5-2 to David Ferrer, who is another guy who is all business. And speaking of people who are 5'9" (I don't believe Ferrer is, having stood next to him and towered over him and I'm not quite 5'11"), Levine has been broken twice so from 2-0, it's 2-4 in favour of Meeeeelowsh Raonic. The Thornhill Thunderer. Milos the Missile.
11.38 am: Murray's had his lower back massaged and had a bit of manip. Plenty of deep heat oil rubbed on and his back up on his feet again but moving very gingerly. He's still in "win or bust" mode on every shot. Shades of last year, when he sprained his ankle but still beat Michael Berrer in straight sets. And he's broken back! and he had some more quick treatment at the change-over (the first was a medical time-out, this was just a quick one-minuter during the changeover).
11. 32 am: MURRAY ALERT! He's 3-0 down and can barely move out there. He's serving at 60 mph. He can't arch his back on service. He's serving down the middle then just standing there, waiting for the ball to come back and trying to hit winners. And the trainer is out! 4-0 to Jarkko. Wow.
11.27 am: My little Pet Kvit, who is my favourite player at the moment, has broken Urszula Radwanska to lead 2-1. Ursi recently beat Marion Bartoli, but unfortunately that's not much of an achievement at the moment. Poor Marion, a semi-finalist here last year, won the grand total of three matches on clay this season and has lost loads of points (as she also made the final in Strasbourg last year). And in the time it's taken me to write that, Ms. Kvitova (who made the fourth round here last year before losing to eventual champion Madame Li, only to go on and win Wimbledon four weeks later) is now 4-1 to the good.
11.24 am: Benoit Parie - David Ferrer. Their names rhyme but that's about it. No.6 v No.69 (which represents enormous progress for Benoit, who made the semis in Belgrade recently which hoiked him up to his highest ranking). And he's held to open, so good for 23-year-old Ben.
11.15 am: Jesse Levine is under way against Milos Raonic. Qualifier versus No.19 seed. South of the 49th parallel versus north (ie USA versus Canada). 1.75m (and if you believe that, you'll believe anything. Levine makes Fabrice Santoro look like Ivo Karlovic) versus 1.96m. Everything separates them. I'm going for Meeelowsh, as they pronounce it, but that's because I'm a closet Canadian at heart. And of course wee Jesse has broken to open and leads 2-0.
11.03 am: The players are out on court. We have Murray - Nieminen, with a nice little preview of that at the bottom of the page. We have Radwanska (younger sister Urszula of that ilk) against Pet Kvit, and you can read all about her at the bottom of the page as well. We look after you guys, we really do.
10.50 am: Mesdames and gentlemen, bienvenue to day 5 at the French. We're hoping to get the second round finished today, with Rafa, Andy, Caro, Maria, Na, Petra and Francesca on the show-courts and Jo-Wil to come back and finish off his match from yesterday in what has become a virtual three-setter between him and valiant German lefty Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.
No comments:
Post a Comment