Season II Roland Garros

[Mister Wright]

Happy to get that first round clash out of the way. Would have royaly sucked to go out first round after such an impressive run last season.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Men's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Tuesday (Day Four) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Fourth seed Sven Oxenstierna was barely troubled in his second round match as he thumped Denmark's Kasper Buur in straight sets. The Season I finalist was tremendous as he picked apart the Dane with ease - tripling his opponent's winner count with particular aggression off his forehand side. While Oxenstierna barely needed to get out of cruise control, Buur struggled all day with his serve and was unable to get into positions to hit winners as Oxenstierna breezed to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win. His first real test comes against 27th seed Sanchez Emelio in the third round after the Spaniard crushed wildcard David Lebègue 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.

• Joining the Ox in the third round is Brett Read after the unseeded Westerner came from a set down to beat Jason Bradley of the USA. Read's recent form meant he was the favourite, but after a tough five setter on Monday he took a while to get out of the blocks as the American claimed the first set 6-3. But after the rusty start, Read found his range as he frustrated Bradley with some top notch returning and solid serving to claim the next two sets in dominant fashion. A break up in the fourth, Read looked ready to coast to victory before Bradley hit back to take the set to a tiebreaker. It delayed the inevitable, though, as Read took a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(3) win to set up a rematch with sixteenth seed Miroslav Brdar. Brdar proved too much for Björn Donaldson in a straight sets win.

• There was no luck for Jason Lawley, but he produced a very game display against 23rd seed Antonio Bachunelli. Despite being ranked in excess of one hundred places below him, Lawley pushed Bachunelli right to the limit consistently thanks to some bad errors from Bachunelli and some consistent tennis from Lawley. The Westerner played much better than his first round win over Pierre Rose earlier in the week, but still couldn't take a set off Bachunelli. Despite the gutsy performance, the Italian had too much in a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win.

• Also out in straight sets was Ishan Narang, though he did it far more spectacularly as he was roundly thrashed by Diego Hurtado. Starting to find his feet after a long layoff with injury, Hurtado monstered the young Easterner with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 win capped off with a hat trick of forehand winners to close out the match. Narang, who served so well against Rafael Fernando, came up against a far stronger opponent who outhit him with some destructive baseline tennis. The eighteenth seed didn't give up his serve once as he regularly created chances against Narang who struggled with the breezy conditions and failed to ever get going.

• The big surprise, though, is Hurtado's third round opponent as thirteenth seed Rick Henson was taken out in four by Scotland Rivers in the biggest upsets of the tournament. Henson, a former champion, was nearly unbackable against a player who has never managed to produce great tennis on the surface and has willfully avoided it. But it was clear early that something big might be brewing until Henson cut Rivers down to size in the second set 6-2. Rivers kept on plucking away, and began to frustrate Henson with some insanely good forehands that were catching the line - much to the chagrin of Henson. Falling behind 1-5 in the fourth, it seemed likely that Henson might stage a huge comeback as he broke Rivers and held to make it 3-5. But with his second chance to serve for the match, Rivers clung onto victory thanks to a backhand from Henson that found the net to advance to a Hurtado showdown 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

• Other seeds to fall: 30th seed Sergio Joaquin was beaten by highly rated compatriot Javier Villaneuva in Villaneuva's second straight five-set win, while 26th seed Becker Haas crumbled to Janos Varga despite leading by a break for most of the fifth set. Varga making it three Hungarians into the final four of section 4 with a 7-5, 5-7, 3-6, 6-0, 8-6 nailbiter.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Becker Haas;
  
  Rick Henson;
  
  Sergio Joaquin.

Doubles and the draw as it stands to come.
​

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Denmark

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Great work from Rivers, and some really one sided matches in there.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Ooh, yeah.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Oh boy.

Roland Garros II - Men's Doubles
GRAND SLAM - Tuesday (Day Four) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Fourth seeds Jefferson Drake and Martti Korpinen have fallen to a stunning straight sets loss to little known Southern Hemisphere pairing Rod Bosnar and Karl King. The Season I semi finalists were one of the tournament's favourites to take home the silverware, but played appallingly against the Trans-Tasman pairing who were teaming together for the first time. Bosnar worked like a trojan at the net to regularly deny the East CWLanders service breaks, and the veteran proved to be the hitman as his quick hands allowed a decisive first set break. The Easterners needed a quick start in the second set but didn't get it as Bosnar and King stormed ahead to a 5-1 lead to be in sight of an amazing win. They didn't get it immediately, but a quality service game from Karl King secured a shock 7-5, 6-3 upset.

• Makeshift pairing Henry Charles and Spas Delev made a bright start to their campaign as they cruised past wildcard entrants Tanguay Boissel and Felix Nason. With Charles out of the singles draw and looking for some success, the duo combined well in the face of little opposition to pick up a 6-3, 6-2 win. Boissel and Nason took two of their games against the Charles/Delev serve, but were regularly broken and lacked the firepower and alertness at the net in a big loss. Charles and Delev now meet 12th seeds Artem Krohmal and Merab Shvelidze who survived a close call against Vladimir Gryzlov and Dmitry Orlov in their 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(7) win.

• There were no such troubles for the thirteenth seeds Rob Bowenburg and Jarkko Maxum as they ousted wildcards Jean Tiquet and Denis Prevost. The first set was a piece of cake for the Trans-CWLand pairing as they took the set inside thirty minutes with some great combination tennis against a bewildered French unit. But Tiquet and Prevost weren't quite done as they surged back into the contest with a bit of luck to lead by a break, before the thirteenth seeds ran them down to win 6-1, 7-5. Their second round opponents will be decided tomorrow.

• Finally, second seeds Heath Davis and Jojo Mustard avoided upset in a comfortable start to their tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Roel Hervelle and Jerzy Kosecki. Ousted in the third round last season, Davis and Mustard are a far more complete team now with some fine results behind them. The world's second best team met solid resistance from the Belgian-Polish pairing, but never fell behind as they cruised to victory without expending much energy. They next meet Toby Brookes and David Champion as the Australian Open quarter finalists edged out Ashim Kumar and Sanjay Rabha 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4.

• Elsewhere: defending champions Hugh James and Ralph Robinson made a winning start to their campaign; Antonio Bachunelli and Jean-Alain Depuis were beaten in straight sets by Carlo Amato and Patrick Pascaul; and tenth seeds Gai Kai and Lu Xun were ousted by Ivars Emsis and Alexey Yarkin.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Antonio Bachunelli &
  
  Jean-Alain Depuis;
  
  Jefferson Drake &
  
  Martti Korpinen;
  
  Gai Kai &
  
  Lu Xun.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

****ing shock there. Disappointing to see the Ossies go out too, would have liked another show-down later in the tournament.

Solid, if unspectacular win from myself and El Mustardo. Hoping for improvement.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Brutal

 

[Mister Wright]

Good efort to get through the first round. Hopefully Davis and I can both manage a gruelling singles and doubles campaign.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Men's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Five) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• 24th seed Heath Davis will head into a do-or-die third round clash with tenth seed Radivoj Daneu this Friday after booking a spot in the final 32 with a straight sets win over Thailand's Atthaphol Sae-ul. Sae-ul was non-existent outside of the second set as the West CWLander tore him apart in a far cry for the Thai player's first round win. Davis dropped just four games - all in the second set - as he overpowered Sae-ul on the unseeded Asian player's least favourite surface; charging through to the third round 6-0, 6-4, 6-0. He meets Season I quarter finalist Daneu who cruised past Anvar Juraev of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-0, 7-6(3).

• In section 7, eighth seed Jefferson Drake continued his clean start to the fortnight with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over West CWLand qualifier David Briggs. The Nice champion was met by a resilient display from Briggs in the second and third sets, but it was clear that he had way too much power for his opponent as he convincingly advanced to the third round. It was a tough baptism for Briggs, but he didn't disgrace himself with a few highlights he can show the grand kids. Drake now meets Finland's Lari Färkkilä who yet again prevailed in five set from one set to two down to oust 25th seed Kim Vollan 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

• The other third round match in that section will pit fourteenth seed Jojo Mustard against unseeded Easterner Spas Delev in another Grand Slam third round match. Mustard was far too good for the Ukraine's Viktor Vuriak as he survived a tight start to win in straight sets. Vuriak's swinging left arm style caused Mustard some trouble early doors, but the fourteenth seed quickly recovered to take the first set in a tiebreaker 7-3. From there, Vuriak struggled with Mustard's consistency and accuracy as he continued to find the lines with the forehand down the line. It was enough for him to earn a 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-3 victory and a third round place on Friday.

• His opponent, Delev, will be far more tired after a marathon five-set victory over Petr Brožík. Down two-sets to one and fresh off a third set flogging, Brožík looked down and out at a break down before he surged back to send the match to a fifth set. The fifth lasted nearly two hours and was ridden with errors and missed opportunities as Delev wasted four match points at 6-5, 7-6 and 9-8. With both players broken numerous times, it left Sven Oxenstierna tweeting things like "lol is this the wta tour?" before Delev finally got the breakthrough by holding serve to complete a gutsy 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 win.

• While Nilikar Midid gave up a two-sets to love lead to lose to Johan Ortiz, the choke of the day came on Court Phillipe Chatrier as 31st seed Pierre L'Estrange did battle with East CWLand's Jarkko Maxum. After taking the first two sets, the World No. 40 Maxum had a 5-3 lead and a match point to set up a third round clash with Daniel Páez Blanco. While L'Estrange saved that to the delight of the French crowd, no one could have expected what was building as the 31st seed claimed the third set 7-5 in a tiebreaker. After a sluggish start, the enigmatic L'Estrange started to pick up the pace and began drawing Maxum into making bad errors off both wings to cough up two fourth set service breaks. That leveled the match at a set apiece, but Maxum wasn't done yet as he claimed a break of serve early in the second against the run of play as L'Estrange found the tape and the ball bobbled out wide. Despite the scare, he broke back to love immediately and from there the result was never in doubt - the World No. 38 bringing up three match points and converting his first to secure a gutsy 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4 win. Needless to say, the French crowd lost their **** while Maxum could be heard over the television monitor telling those "screamy French ****s" to "go and lose another war." His second round prize money might be a little lighter once the FFT have their say.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Kim Vollan.

 

[Mister Wright]

Very pleased for Mustard to get through to the 3rd round. Will be looking to get revenge on Delev after he knocked Mustard out in the Australian Open (last season I think).

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Men's Doubles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Five) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Doubles pairing Scotland Rivers and Yordan Zakov proved too good for Denis Isaev and Haiku Morkel in an impressive first round showing. Zakov, a Grand Slam doubles quarter finalist in his own right, provided great spark at the net and also some good power from the baseline as he and Rivers combined well after a slow start. The Belarusian-Norwegian duo struggled for rhythm after being pantsed in the first set tiebreaker as Rivers and Zakov charged into the second round 7-6(0), 6-2. They meet eighth seeds Ion Andueza and Sanchez Emelio after they knocked out Season I finalist Raz Teper and his makeshift partner Hani Alberman.

• Also through were Björn Donaldson and Brett Read as they survived a puzzling contest with Davis Kennedy and Shaun Poole. The North Americans seemed to give up mid way through a first set they dropped 1-6, before firing back their own salvo to take the second 6-1 and send the match to a deciding third inside three quarters of an hour. There it was tighter early, before the Jamaican Poole had his service broken thanks to a nifty backhand lob from the Swede that cleared both of his opponents up at the net. It was enough for the Donaldson/Read pairing to hold on for a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 win and a second round meeting with third seeds Hayden and Ross Onwye who beat JJ Berthier and Abel Bonnin 6-0, 7-5.

• Seeded players out: None.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

ftr, I've simmed the third round matches for the top half. itstl

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Wow. Liking that result over Sae-Ul. I must have a great bagels inflicted to bagles conceded percentage! Good to see Mustard safely through as well.

Disappointed for Maxum, to say the least.

 

[Johnners]

Win is a win (y) Looking forward to getting one up over Mustard.

 

[morgieb]

Win in doubles (Y).

 

[vic_orthdox]

Woah, I've never played doubles before...

 

[morgieb]

What's up with Hungarians being so good in this game? In the Ox's quarter there's 3 still standing, all in the same section ffs.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Not sure actually. When I did the original randomisation to determine rankings in 2008 (2008! ****!), those three were actually in the top 20!