French Open (Day Five) - May 25- June 8 Season I
Roland Garros - Men's Singles
Day Five - Third Round - Paris
Seeds
Draw - Section One
Draw - Section Two
Draw - Section Three
Draw - Section Four
Draw - Section Five
Draw - Section Six
Draw - Section Seven
Draw - Section Eight
The last remaining CWLander in the bottom half of the draw has fallen as fifteenth seed
Jefferson Drake lost in a five-set thriller to China's
Li Wang. Li, whose reversal of form has been something to behold after a confidence-sapping week in Düsseldorf, looked to have returned to the doldrums as he dropped service twice in the first set and never looked like challenging the aggressive CWLander. But Drake, fresh off lengthy singles and doubles matches over the past couple of days, struggled to maintain the intensity as Li grew from strength-to-strength following the first set debacle. The Chinese number two stormed to a two-sets-to-one lead following a brilliant period of play where he controlled the game from the baseline. But Drake had another surprise in store for the 22nd seed as he played more conservative tennis to cut down on unforced errors - a tremendous risk no doubt considering the amount of tennis he'd played already this week. But the risk paid off, and the match was headed for a fifth set where both men were obviously tiring both physically and mentally. But after nearly five hours of punishing tennis, it was the Chinese player who got the all-important break of service to seal a sensational
2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 8-6 win.
His opponent in the fourth round will unsurprisingly be second seed
Daniel Páez Blanco who fought for a four-set win against a brave
Zoltan Varga. The Hungarian 26th seed suffered from nerves early as he fell behind two-sets-to-love, but he managed to get a sniff of an upset as he forced his way back into the contest by taking the third set. Whilst Varga continued to pile the pressure on the tournament favourite in the fourth set, the Spaniard was more than up to the task as he snuck a victory in a tiebreaker
6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(2).
Elsewhere,
Oneil Stewart continued his giant-killing streak by defeating nineteenth seed
Almen Benaglio in another five-set slog. Just days after upsetting tenth seed
Rasmus Olesen in five (despite being down two-sets-to-love), Stewart again looked troubled early as he convincingly dropped the first set. But in a match where sets were decided due to early breaks of service, Stewart surged to take a lead in the match, before the Swiss youngster ensured the match would head to a fifth as the momentum shifted again and again. But Stewart is a proven machine at getting anything back, and the super-fit Jamaican ensured he would face Hungary's
József Boros in the fourth round by sealing a
2-6, 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win. Boros likewise was forced to come from a set down as he defeated Pörtschach champion
Toby Brookes in four sets:
6-7(1), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Seventh seed
Miroslav Brdar survived a five-set scare in the first round against Puerto Rican
Domingo Gutiérrez Gómez, but lightening didn't strike twice for the Croatian as Italian number one
Antonio Bachunelli stitched up a fourth round berth. The world number 45 looked on the verge of giving up a two set lead to the dogged Croatian as the seventh seed levelled the match at two-sets each with some inspired tennis. But Bachunelli wasn't intent on becoming the second man this tournament to give up such a lead; overcoming Brdar thanks largely to a break of service in the fifth game of the fifth set to advance
6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4. His opponent will be Argentina's
Juan Moreno who continued to impress with a straight sets thrashing of Spaniard
Sanchez Emelio. The eleventh seed was handed a tough draw; a draw which he came through admirably as his awesome form continued. The seventeenth seed was no match for the red-hot Argentine who now moves into the fourth round as overwhelming favourite on the back of a
6-1, 6-4, 6-3 win.
And qualifier
Alex Peters' impressive run has come to a screeching halt following a straight sets thrashing at the hands of
Carlo Amato. The eighteenth seed had little trouble in dispatching the German; conceding just four games in his
6-2, 6-2, 6-0 win. His next opponent will be Serbian third seed
Radivoj Daneu who was made to fight to defeat 29th seeded American
Jason Bradley. Bradley put up resistance to Daneu in all but the second set (where he was bagelled), but was unable to pull off an upset as the unconvincing Serb advanced
7-5, 6-0, 6-7(5), 7-5.
- Seeded players out: Almen Benaglio; Jason Bradley; Miroslav Brdar; Jefferson Drake; Sanchez Emelio; Zoltan Varga.
Roland Garros - Men's Doubles
Day Five - Second Round - Paris
Seeds
Draw - Section One
Draw - Section Two
Draw - Section Three
Draw - Section Four
Sixth seeds
Heath Davis and
Jojo Mustard have kept their doubles dream alive after a three-set win over Brazilian pair
Flávio Augusto Martins and
Marzio Claverini. Just one day after their opening win over the team of
Valery Belousov and
Mykhaylo Martynenko, the pair had it a lot tougher against the cohesive pairing from Brazil. The favourites came out firing as they converted both break points they were handed to take the first set; but whilst they brought up the same break point opportunities in the second set, they were unable to capitalise as Davis dropped his service mid-way into the set. But the pair regained their flair by putting away some important volleys and smashes early in the decider to seal a
6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win. They will face either eleventh seeds
Andrej Konc and
Evgeniy Maximov or local wildcards
Franck Brunet and
Jeremy Chateau.
Elsewhere, unseeded Belgian pair
Mark Harmel and
Yves Parmentier pulled off an amazing upset as they defeated second seeds
Morton Blundell and
Carlos Machado in straight sets. The Belgians dropped just one game in their first round clash against
Adam Murray and
Boyd Mulenga, and again looked untroubled early in the first set as Blundell and Machado both had service games broken. Whilst the second seeds put up a better fight in the second set, they were unable to break the service of the Belgian pair who sealed a
6-2, 7-5 win. Their opponents in the third round will be French veterans
Jean-Alain Depuis and
Pierre L'Estrange as the makeshift pair proved far too good for
Artem Krohmal and
Merab Shvelidze.
- Seeded players out: Morton Blundell / Carlos Machado; Sebastian Moss / Oliver Thursfield.
Alessandria Challenger
Quarterfinals - Alessandria
Draw
Eighth seed
Jarko Maxum's tournament has come to a conclusion in the quarterfinals of the challenger tournament in Alessandria after the world number 141 bowed out in straight sets to fourth seed
Denis Isaev. The Belarus number one had dropped just seven games all tournament, but found himself troubled early by the impressive CWLand teenager. But whilst Maxum put up a fight, Isaev edged clear at the most important time as he broke service in the eleventh game of the first set. With the first set going the way of the Belrusian, Maxum managed an early break of service but immediately handed Isaev a way back into the set as he broke back immediately. In an amazing string of six straight breaks of service, it seemed fitting that the second went to a tiebreaker between two men who didn't seem to want to win the thing. Isaev did, however, prevail in a tense tiebreaker to set up a semifinal showdown with
Mario Timko:
6-4, 7-6(4).
- Seeded players out: Gocha Berianidze; Jarko Maxum; Nikola Todorovski.
Can still sign up for the Tretorn Serie+ events.