TENNIS NEWS UPDATE FROM PARIS, GLOBAL CHICK REPORTING @ THE FRENCH OPEN: ANDY MURRAY, NOVAK DJOKOVIC, JACK SOCK, BORNA CORIC ALL WIN

Written by: Global Chick on 28th May 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

TENNIS NEWS UPDATE FROM PARIS, GLOBAL CHICK REPORTING @ THE FRENCH OPEN: ANDY MURRAY, NOVAK DJOKOVIC, JACK SOCK, BORNA CORIC ALL WIN

epa04772675 Borna Coric of Croatia in action against Tommy Robredo of Spain during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 28 May 2015. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

RG Recap Day 5 – Can you hear the sound… of the Upset Klaxon?

More blue sky, and a stacked day on the big two courts, but our peace and solitude was disturbed but the sounds of upset klaxons ringing in the air. Like seagulls with sore throats, the sonorous blasts of warning gave us such a start, we almost spilled our café au lait all over our croissant and apricot preserve.

Julia Goerges of Germany in action against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 28 May 2015. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

First up, former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki might have gotten off to a spirited start, but Julia Goerges decided to get the better of the ‘Battle of the Yellows’ by sneaking the first set when Wozniacki seemed to struggle with the now infamous slowness of the Chatrier court on a Parisian morning.

The struggle was real, as they battled their way to a second set tie-break but the German dumped the fifth seed and one of the favourites for a decent run out of the tournament 6-4 7-6(4).

Last year’s semi-finalist Andrea Petkovic (also rocking the yellow and white look) was in a similar spot of bother against Lourdes Dominguez Lino, actually down a set and a break before finally getting herself together to reclaim the break and to force the momentum her way, breaking the Spaniard to take the second set. Give credit to her opponent, she took the advantage again in the early part of the third set, but Petkovic dug deep to break twice, and some great patience on her part (not always her strongest forte) to keep her nerve despite failing to serve it out for the match the first time, having to resort to breaking the Spaniard one more time and resulting in a great moment between the players at the net.

Never one to spare her fans their beloved fingernails, Petra Kvitova also put us through the mill, and threatened the re-emergence of the upset klaxon, but after giving up the first set, she settled down and our precious little shell-like ears were saved.

That was until Serena Williams came along to take on Anna-Lena Friedsam. The German World No. 105 was not cowed by facing the World No. 1 breaking her in the first game, only to be predictably broken straight back. That did not stop the German who kept coming back at Williams. She was rewarded after another brace of brakes were traded with breaking straight back to take a 6-5 lead, to serve out for the first set. Cue klaxon.

Friedsam was the first to blink in the second set, but fair play to her, she was not going to give up the set without a fight plugging away at Williams to break straight back before Williams put pedal to the metal once more, before serving out to level the match.

Williams began and ended the final set with a break, but knew that she had to work for her win today.

Williams said, after the match: “[I’m] probably more frustrated than relieved, but I know I’m capable of playing great tennis, just haven’t seen it yet.

“A win is a win, and as long as you live to survive the next day, you can always improve. I know my level is literally a hundred times better than I played today, so I think I take more solace in the fact I can play better as opposed to the fact that that’s the best I could play. Then I would be in trouble.”

Meanwhile Rafael Nadal weathered his compatriot rather well, keeping Nicolas Almagro at bay, although a storm still continues to swirl like the threatening grey clouds that just want to rain on Chatrier’s parade. He is still not perfect, but the confidence is coming.

Novak Djokovic’s confidence took a bit of a dent as his somewhat routine outing against Gilles Muller took a painful turn with a hip/groin injury that required a very uncomfortable looking medical time-out on the clay. Ever the consummate professional, he served out the second set and established a swift lead in the third set with a double break cushion despite still appearing to be in some discomfort.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Gilles Muller of Luxemburg during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 28 May 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Andy Murray became the first of the big names to drop a set as Portugal’s Joao Sousa made the most of a dip in his concentration to take the initiative and level the match. Murray even had to fight off a couple of break points in the third set, but after that perhaps a little Sousa’s thunder (not to mention a couple of pesky drops of rain) was stolen as Murray broke him three times in the fourth set to round out a 6-2 4-6 6-4 6-1 win. But the moment of the day had to belong to on-court interview Fabrice Santoro. Last year he offered Murray his card when the Brit was looking for a coach. This year, he came out in a kilt, rendering Murray almost speechless!

Friday brings us Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and a host of Frenchmen. But it remains to be seen if we have any other upsets. Now, where can one buy earplugs to drown out that klaxon?

Topics: Andrea Petkovic, Andy Murray, Borna Coric, Caroline Wozniacki, French Open, global chick, jack sock, Julia Goerges, Novak Djokovic, Paris, Rafa Nadal, RG15, Roland Garros, Serena Williams, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

May 28, 2015 at 12:33 pm

#TennisNews UPDATE FROM #PARIS, GLOBAL CHICK REPORTING @ THE #FrenchOpen: #AndyMurray, @DjokerNole, @JackSock ALL WIN http://t.co/e8Cm0C7hiW