Showing posts with label french open tennis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french open tennis. Show all posts
PARIS: Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams, with 28 Grand Slam titles between them, enjoyed a French Open cruise on Monday as Andy Murray toiled through a five-set marathon in blistering sunshine.Defending champion Federer began his campaign for a 17th major with a comfortable 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Australia's Peter Luczak.Less than two hours later, with Paris temperatures soaring to 30 degrees, Williams, chasing a 13th Grand Slam crown, also made the second round with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 win over Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele.Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first Roland Garros crown here in 2009, will face Colombia's Alejandro Falla for a place in the last 32.Meanwhile, Williams, the 2002 champion, showed no ill-effects from the recent knee problems that sidelined her for three months, as she fired 28 winners and 10 aces past Voegele, the world 76.The American, who collected her 12th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, next faces Julia Goerges of Germany, but admitted she needs to step up her level.British fourth seed Andy Murray toiled for over four hours to defeat France's Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.It was the second time at a Grand Slam that the Scotsman has defeated Gasquet in such dramatic circumstances -- in 2008 at Wimbledon, he also had to recover from two sets down to see off the stylish French player, who needed treatment on his left thigh as his challenge wilted.Murray will now play unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.Third seed Novak Djokovic, recently laid low by an allergy, overcame a second-set blip to beat Kazakhstan's Evgeny Korolev 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.The 2008 Australian Open champion, and a two-time French Open semi-finalist, will now face Japan's Kei Nishikori, the world 246, who came back from two sets down to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.Spanish seeds Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez were both first round losers.Robredo, the 21st seed and a four-time quarter-finalist, lost to Serbia's Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in what was the 28-year-old's worst Paris loss.Lopez, the 27th seed, was put out by German qualifier Julian Reister, the world 165, in straight sets.Caroline Wozniacki, leading the chasing pack in pursuit of the Williams sisters, shrugged off ankle injury concerns to sweep into the women's second round.The 19-year-old Dane reeled off the first seven games of the match before clinching a 6-0, 6-3 win over Russian world 78 Alla Kudryavtseva, the 69-minute victory proving a crucial confidence-booster for the third seed.Safely through also is Chinese number one Li Na, the 11th seed, who defeated last year's junior champion Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 6-3, wile Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-1, 6-1.Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 champion, saw off Taiwan's Kai-Chen Chang 6-3, 6-3 while fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic, twice a semi-finalist, also went through 6-0, 6-4 against experienced Australian Alicia Molik.
PARIS: Justine Henin returned to the place she describes as her garden on Tuesday after a lengthy absence and found everything pretty much how she left it even if her game still needed a little tidying.
Belgium's Justine Henin returns the ball to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris.
The four-times French Open champion eased back into the old routine with a 6-4 6-3 defeat of Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova –her 22nd consecutive victory at Roland Garros albeit three years after her 21st sealed a rare hat-trick of titles here.
As homecomings go, however, it was a low-key occasion.
The 27-year-old, kitted out in functional pink skirt and top, has never been much for glitz and fanfare, prefering to let her thorougbred game do the talking.
That was the case again on Tuesday as she opened proceedings on a half-full Chatrier Court with a no-nonsense display.
Pironkova, ranked 81 in the world, did not roll out the red carpet for the returning queen of clay and hung around for an hour and half, just long enough for Henin to make sure everything was still in good working order.
A few trademark backhands raised the noise levels from the fans, some kitted out in the Belgian colours, and shouts of “Allez Juju” occasionally rung out on another sweltering morning in the French capital.
Watching tennis before lunch, even if one of the greatest woman players to slide on a clay court, is not quite the Parisian way but it promises to be livelier later when the city’s adopted prince of clay Rafael Nadal begins the task of taking back his throne against French teenager Gianni Mina.
Unlike Henin, Nadal never went away, but his fourth round exit here last year to Robin Soderling, his first ever defeat at Roland Garros, raised fears among his adoring army of fans that the Spaniard’s aura had gone, possibly never to return.
A year later and with the tendonitis in his knees now under control, Nadal has rediscovered the old magic and so far during the claycourt season he has proved unstoppable, winning all 15 of his matches on the red dirt this year.
Mina, an 18-year-old French wildcard with a strong resemblance to Gael Monfils and who is ranked 655th in the world, would not have slept particularly well on Monday night as he prepared for the biggest match of his life.
Henin took her winning streak of sets at Roland Garros to 37 against Pironkova -- she last lost one on her way to the 2005 title – although she did show signs of rust.
Her backhand did not fire on all cylinders and she was troubled by Pironkova’s power in the early stages.
She took command with a break in the eighth game of the opening set and appeared to have plenty in reserve as she claimed a nerve-settling victory in an hour and 29 minutes.
The French Open’s unique scheduling means that first round matches are spread over three days and several other top seeds were making their bows on Tuesday.
American Andy Roddick, who reached the fourth round here last year, followed Henin on to Chatrier against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen while Spain’s Fernando Verdasco wasted no time getting his challenge under way, beating Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in straight sets.
Former women’s world number one and last year’s runner-up Dinara Safina, was also in action against Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm, the 39-year-old who made her Roland Garros debut when Safina was just three years old.
As homecomings go, however, it was a low-key occasion.
The 27-year-old, kitted out in functional pink skirt and top, has never been much for glitz and fanfare, prefering to let her thorougbred game do the talking.
That was the case again on Tuesday as she opened proceedings on a half-full Chatrier Court with a no-nonsense display.
Pironkova, ranked 81 in the world, did not roll out the red carpet for the returning queen of clay and hung around for an hour and half, just long enough for Henin to make sure everything was still in good working order.
A few trademark backhands raised the noise levels from the fans, some kitted out in the Belgian colours, and shouts of “Allez Juju” occasionally rung out on another sweltering morning in the French capital.
Watching tennis before lunch, even if one of the greatest woman players to slide on a clay court, is not quite the Parisian way but it promises to be livelier later when the city’s adopted prince of clay Rafael Nadal begins the task of taking back his throne against French teenager Gianni Mina.
Unlike Henin, Nadal never went away, but his fourth round exit here last year to Robin Soderling, his first ever defeat at Roland Garros, raised fears among his adoring army of fans that the Spaniard’s aura had gone, possibly never to return.
A year later and with the tendonitis in his knees now under control, Nadal has rediscovered the old magic and so far during the claycourt season he has proved unstoppable, winning all 15 of his matches on the red dirt this year.
Mina, an 18-year-old French wildcard with a strong resemblance to Gael Monfils and who is ranked 655th in the world, would not have slept particularly well on Monday night as he prepared for the biggest match of his life.
Henin took her winning streak of sets at Roland Garros to 37 against Pironkova -- she last lost one on her way to the 2005 title – although she did show signs of rust.
Her backhand did not fire on all cylinders and she was troubled by Pironkova’s power in the early stages.
She took command with a break in the eighth game of the opening set and appeared to have plenty in reserve as she claimed a nerve-settling victory in an hour and 29 minutes.
The French Open’s unique scheduling means that first round matches are spread over three days and several other top seeds were making their bows on Tuesday.
American Andy Roddick, who reached the fourth round here last year, followed Henin on to Chatrier against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen while Spain’s Fernando Verdasco wasted no time getting his challenge under way, beating Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in straight sets.
Former women’s world number one and last year’s runner-up Dinara Safina, was also in action against Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm, the 39-year-old who made her Roland Garros debut when Safina was just three years old.
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