BNP PARIBAS FRENCH OPEN TENNIS NEWS STRAIGHT FROM PARIS BY GLOBAL CHICK; SHARAPOVA, FEDERER, TSONGA, ALL POST WINS

Written by: Global Chick on 29th May 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

BNP PARIBAS FRENCH OPEN TENNIS NEWS STRAIGHT FROM PARIS BY GLOBAL CHICK; SHARAPOVA, FEDERER, TSONGA, ALL POST WINS

epa04774591 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Pablo Andujar of Spain during their third round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

Just in case we were in any doubt of the surface – it’s clay.

Red, vibrant, show-up-on-your-clothes clay. You want to know how we know. Because the wind has been whipping up a storm today in Paris and it is everywhere. If the French Federation wanted to charge people for walking off with fistfuls of their beloved terre battue, they could make a fortune from the poor unfortunates in the front row of Chatrier alone!

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia reacts after winning against Donna Vekic of Croatia during their third round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2015. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

That being said, the big names seemed to weather the clay storm, starting with Ana Ivanovic, who had looked about as steady as a loose pile of stones on a steep hillside in her first couple of matches in Paris. Twice she has had to come from a set down, with each match resulting in an ever-more frantic carousel of fist-pumps and twirling, but against Donna Vekic, who defeated French hopeful Caroline Garcia, she was in commanding form from the off.

Ivanovic ripped through the first set denying the Croatian even a squint at the scoreboard, although Vekic did strike first in the second set, breaking Ivanovic before the first sit-down, only for the Serbian to twirl and fist-pump her way through a couple of breaks of her own before closing out the match.

She said: “After first two matches, I really started to get a little bit of feeling and groove, and yesterday I had easy day. Today I really had strict game plan. I had an idea what I wanted to do, and obviously confidence from first two matches helped me in today’s performance, too.”

Maria Sharapova of Russia blows her nose during a break as she plays against Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2015.

Less spritely (but getting there) was Maria Sharapova, who is still under the weather. While much was expected of an in-form Sam Stosur, coming in with the title in Strasbourg and an impressive brace of wins in her first two rounds. Nevertheless it was an emotional Sharapova who closed out a 6-3 6-4 win, looking very close to tears at the end of the match.

She explained: “I knew it was going to be a tough one going into the match. And, you know, considering the start of the week was really tough. I knew I had a tough opponent, and I just wanted to be as ready as I could. I was really happy to win it.

“The kick she’s able to give on the second set serve maybe doesn’t bother me as much as maybe other players, and I quite like that ball. She’s been playing really well and she loves playing here. For a third-round match, I thought it was a great result for me.”

Now, if we wanted some unbridled joy while digging out the clay from our eyes, look no further than Alize Cornet, who ground out a tense affair with come-back queen Mirjana Lucic-Baroni including a howler of a serve to the opposite side of the court from where her opponent was standing, giving hope to all of us casual players that even the stars get it wrong sometimes!

The crowd got behind their girl as she almost outdid Ivanovic in the fist-pump stakes today before an emotional reaction to winning.

Roger Federer coasted into the fourth round for the 11th straight year with a straight sets win over Damir Dzumhur 6-4 6-3 6-2, and spookily Stan Wawrinka matched his score-line exactly as they both progressed with the end of the day leaving French fans in a frenzy. After Gilles Simon progressed into the fourth round, and Richard Gasquet finally ended his second round match carried over, the scene was set for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils to close out the evening. While Tsonga got the job done with ease after edging the first set tie-break against Pablo Andujar, it was left to Monfils to provide the thrills.

In a momentum shifting match, he was constantly tested by Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas. Losing the first set, he pushed ahead in the second set tie-break to level match. Cuevas put a stop to that nonsense taking the third set, and it honestly looked as though we’d be heading to a nearby hostelry to explain that our version of medium rare steak did not include just walking the cow through the kitchen and serving it.

Mais non! From 1-4 down, Monfils kicked into gear running off five games in a row to take us all into a fifth set rollercoaster. Oh the crowd were singing La Marseillaise. We were looking up the lyrics to join in. Then Monfils got broken in the first game. But no sooner as we had started googling the Uruguayan national anthem, Monfils got his winning boots on, breaking Cuevas twice and from there slid, slithered and chest-thumped himself into a fourth round with Roger Federer. You want to know why this is a big deal? He’s beaten him twice in a row. On clay. We can’t wait, as it has the potential to be the best show in town.

And so as the dust quite literally settles (sadly on our clothes, in our hair and so on), we head into the first weekend with the top quarter taking centre stage again on Saturday.

Topics: Atp World Tour, BNP Paribas French Open, Federer, global chick, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Maria Sharapova, Paris, Roland Garros, Tennis News, Wta