GLOBAL CHICK RECAPS THE TENNIS FROM PARIS, COVERS MARIA SHARAPOVA, ROGER FEDERER AND MORE TIDBITS FROM THE FRENCH OPEN

Progression, shocks and escapology – Global Chick’s Day 4 Recap from Roland Garros

 

Progression, shocks and escapology

In a pleasing change from the ubiquitous pink Nike wear (sported by her opponent Vitalia Diatchenko) a still coughing and spluttering Maria Sharapova rocked les bleus et les blancs again to keep her defence intact. Once the nerves had died down for the other Russian, she tried to make things more competitive, but in the second set, the prospect of a Lemsip cold remedy seemed to be spurring Sharapova on, while maybe the effects of an Achilles injury looked to be affecting Diatchenko, who was moving a little less freely. Sharapova ran away with the second set, winning 6-3 6-1. She will want to be in better form to handle Sam Stosur who looks to be on fire, blazing trough her second round match against Armandine Hesse 6-0 6-1. That being said, Sharapova has a 14-2 lead over the Aussie in their head to head, who will be looking for her first win over the Russian since 2012.

 

Meanwhile Roger Federer was doing his stint on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, which was shockingly looking very empty at the start of his second round against Marcel Granollers, and for the first set was in cruise control. Federer started pretty comfortably against a strong clay-courter, and the Spaniard showed what a danger he could be breaking in the second set, only to be pegged back straight away. It was a dominant Federer who ran away with the tie-break for a two sets lead, but Granollers was not to be deterred, breaking immediately at the start of the third set, eliciting a flurry of Federer barks of annoyance at himself.

 

In fact even though the outcome never seemed in doubt, it was a decidedly nettled Federer who advanced in straight sets 6-2 7-6(1) 6-3.

 

He explained, after the match: “I still felt the match was in my racquet. And when you feel that way, obviously you’re always going to feel more confident, more comfortable, not nervous. But the thing you don’t want to do is you [don’t] want to start off badly sets, and that’s what happened in the beginning of the third.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I played a horrible game. It was just very disappointing and frustrating. But after that, I must say, it was probably my best spell of the match right after that. I was down 2-Love in the third. The reaction was what I wanted. Maybe that’s also one of the reasons why I did get a bit angry with myself, because it was really just such a bad game.

 

“I was able to play with variation today. I was offensive. I was successful at net. So overall, I was very, very pleased.”

 

Over on the big stage, our dark horse for a big run Kei Nishikori as he handled Thomaz Bellucci in a competitive first set before outclassing the Brazilian and keeping his hopes of challenging for the big prize, staying out of the limelight while all the focus falls elsewhere.

 

Women’s No. 3 seed and last year’s finalist Simona Halep was bounced out of the tournament by Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who enjoyed an emotional run to fourth round of the US Open (and bounced out Halep in the second round there too!) after coming through the qualification rounds.

 

Halep has picked up some solid wins this year and she looked like she could be a contender on the clay after plugging away to the Stuttgart semi-final. But she had a surprise opening round loss in Madrid (where she was again defending final points) and made up for it in part with a run to the Rome semi-finals. However she imploded against an inspired Carla Suarez-Navarro and after a being broken to lose the first set today, Halep could get just one game on the board in the second set.

 

She said: “I couldn’t feel the game. But it’s normal. I can accept this. That’s tennis, and I have to go forward, because next week I have something new.”

 

The French men continued to fly Le Tricolore (that’s flag to you), with Gilles Simon progressing in straight sets, while Gael Monfils continued to make sure that the crowd got their Euros-worth against Diego Schwartzman, with a five set win over the young Argentine. Perhaps it did not really have to be quite the epic, but he eventually rode out the rollercoaster.

 

There was no such moneysworth on Lenglen for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as the 2013 semi-finalist sailed through his match and was joined by Benoit Paire, who also coasted past a struggling Fabio Fognini.

 

But our prize for Escapologist of the day went to Ana Ivanovic, whose patchy form saw her lose another first set (careless) before staging her comeback against Misaki Doi, as she generously threw in a gift for Doi to break her as she served for the match the first time. Thankfully, as the time ticked on, Ivanovic closed out the win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow brings more Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, so we’re getting the pain au chocolat in early, if you’ll bring the latte?

Topics: 10sballs, Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Fabio Fognini, Federer, French Open, global chick, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Maria Sharapova, Paris, Rafa Nadal, Roland Garros, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis News, Wta

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