FIVE FRENCH TENNIS PLAYERS WIN @ THE FRENCH OPEN TODAY; TSONGA, SIMON, PAIRE, MAHUT AND THE GREAT MONFILS

Written by: Staff on 27th May 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

FIVE FRENCH TENNIS PLAYERS WIN @ THE FRENCH OPEN TODAY; TSONGA, SIMON, PAIRE, MAHUT AND THE GREAT MONFILS

epa04770833 Gael Monfils of France in action against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 27 May 2015. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Allez! Monfils, Tsonga help Frenchmen go 5-0 on Wednesday By Ricky Dimon

It was a banner day for the host nation in men’s singles at the French Open on Wednesday. All five Frenchmen who took the court for second-round action at the French Open got the job done and punched their tickets to the last 32.

The results were as follows:

(12) Gilles Simon d. Martin Klizan 7-5, 6-2, 6-3

(14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-1, 6-1

(21) Gael Monfils d. Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Benoit Paire d. (28) Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3, 7-5

(WC) Nicolas Mahut d. (24) Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Benoit Paire of France in action against Gastao Elias of Portugal during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2015. EPA/CAROLINE BLUMBERG

As the scores indicate, the drama was mostly reserved for Monfils. Although the No. 21 seed may not have been completely on top of his game, the competitiveness of the showdown had a lot to do with Schwartzman. The 5’7” Argentine put in a max effort and the result was an entertaining contest from start to finish.

Both men recorded a positive winners-to-errors ratio–an impressive feat on clay, especially in a match involving such skilled defenders. Schwartzman finished with 49 winners and 42 unforced errors, while Monfils blasted 68 winners at the expense of only 39 mistakes.

“Today I won because I had the crowd behind me,” the 2008 Roland Garros semifinalist explained. “I think I was a bit off. As you can see…the crowd [started] to be with me, behind me, and actually [motivated] me…. They [gave] me, let’s say, some wings. I think I [raised] my level at that stage.”

The rest of the French contingent raised its level so high that little suspense ensued–even though Frenchmen were considerable underdogs on paper in two of their matches. Mahut struggled briefly with Gulbis, a 2014 semifinalist, but he completely turned things around after the Latvian failed to serve out the third set for a 2-1 advantage. Paire dominated an out-of-sorts Fognini right from the start.

Tsonga made similar work of Dudi Sela, albeit in much more expected fashion. The world No. 15 committed a mere 16 unforced errors in what was a short but sweet day at the Parisian office.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Dudi Sela of Israel during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 27 May 2015. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

“I did the job,” Tsonga assured. “[The quick match] can only be helpful for the rest (of the tournament), because I’m not losing energy. Before I start playing even stronger players, it’s good to be fresh. I will certainly have to fight big fights, so it’s all the best to save energy. This is what I did, and it’s good.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs, 2015 French Open, Benoit Paire, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Mahut, Paris, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros, Tennis, Tsonga

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10sBalls_com says:

May 27, 2015 at 6:31 pm

FIVE FRENCH #TENNIS PLAYERS WIN @ THE #FrenchOpen TODAY; @tsonga7, SIMON, @benoitpaire, @nmahut AND @Gael_Monfils- http://t.co/AJGwro76Kb
TennisFrontier says:

May 27, 2015 at 6:32 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: FIVE FRENCH #TENNIS PLAYERS WIN @ THE #FrenchOpen TODAY; @tsonga7, SIMON, @benoitpaire, @nmahut AND @Gael_Monfils- http:/…
Dimonator says:

May 28, 2015 at 10:18 am

RT @10sBalls_com: FIVE FRENCH #TENNIS PLAYERS WIN @ THE #FrenchOpen TODAY; @tsonga7, SIMON, @benoitpaire, @nmahut AND @Gael_Monfils- http:/…