Saturday 2 June: As it happens
Saturday, June 2, 2012
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8.19 pm: Wozniacki takes the breaker, Granollers holds despite a break point and Goerges breaks to open the second. We'll be here all night at this rate...8.15 pm: Mathieu takes the fourth set! Yup, they're going to have a fifth 'un. Will this one be shorter than the 18-16? Most everything he hits turns to gold, or at least it has done for the past 80 minutes or so.
8.11 pm: Kanepi is incapable of serving for the match. She freezes, for the third time, and Caro breaks to 15. Tie-break. Speaking of breakers, Rus takes hers 7-5.
8.06 pm: Kanepi breaks and gives herself another shot at glory. Plenty of great backhands down the line. Rus - Goerges is into a breaker, with mini-breaks exchanged already.
8.03 pm: Nadal wins 1, 3 and 4, but boy did Schwank make him work for it! Rafa towels down, shirt off, for a good few minutes, giving his fans quite an eyeful. The No.2 seed will now face the winner of Monaco/Raonic, with Juan having just broken to lead 2-1!
8.01 pm: 5-3 Mathieu! 1-1 Raonaco, 6-5 Goerges and she has a sniff of a cheeky break at 15-30, and here comes match point for Rafa...
7.56 pm: Kaia was all over this match, but is it all over for her? She's just been broken back to love and it's 5 a-piece now. Goerges meanwhile has broken back and it's 5-all there between her and Arantxa "named after you know who" Rus.
7.53 pm: 5-4, Kaia's going to try again. And ooh, PHM was a point from 5-0 and now it's down to 4-2. The crowd are still roaring him on though. Rafa meanwhile is two sets, 4-3 and 30-0 up but boy, is he taking his time. And 15 minutes later, Raonic has finally held to open in the final set against Monaco...
7.50 pm: Granollers finally gets on the board in the fourth, like he did in the third. He was 0-40 down but battled back to hold, but the crowd is going wild on every point for "Paulo". And ooh, Caroline Wozniacki has saved two match points and broken back to 3-5. Hmm... Kaia was going to her forehand all the time and Caroline held strong.
7.39 pm: Wozniacki holds but Kanepi will now serve for the match. What a thrashing this would be. Monaco has taken the fourth set 6-3, and Milos can't wait for a tie-break in the fifth. And lookie here: Paul-Henri Mathieu leads 3-0, two breaks to the good, in the fourth set. Three more semi-bagels like that and he's home and hosed! Three five-setters in a row? Surely not!
7.33 pm: Rafa breaks to lead 2-1 in the third (and final?) set, but the big news is that Wozniacki is missing her shots and Kanepi is hitting hers. 4-1! She's two games, eight points, a third of a set from glory...
7.23 pm: Rus breaks and holds to open! Goerges currently has the record for the fastest service of the women's tournament, clocked at 202 km/h in the first round. It's also the fourth-fastest of all time (behind Venus at the US Open in 2007, Serena here in 2006 and Brenda Schultz-McCarthy at Indian Wells in 2007). Rus by the way hails from the Dutch town of Monster! What a name!
7.19 pm: Granollers breaks one back, PHM breaks right back up and then serves out! 6-1! 12 more games... can he do it? Meanwhile Nadal has taken the second set 6-3. He's only won four games but Schwank is giving a good account of himself. And it's 4-1 Monaco.
7.11 pm: Mathieu is on fire! He only seems to come alive late into matches! 4-0 to the Strasbourg native who is making the biggest comeback since Lazarus. Elsewhere, Julia Goerges - Arantxa Rus is about to start on Court 7, having been moved due to PHM's heroics.
7.02 pm: The president of the French tennis federation Jean Gachassin has gone over to No.1 Court and he arrives just in time to see Paul-Henri Mathieu to lead the third set 2-0! And Kaia Kanepi has taken the first set 6-1 over Caroline Wozniacki!
6.53 pm: Granollers is indeed 6-4, 6-4 up. Kanepi leads 4-1, Nadal is a set and 3-1 up. Schwank looks very good at the net - far better than No.192 in the world. Meanwhile Raonic still hasn't broken service but he leads two sets to one having nabbed another breaker.
6.43 pm: Granollers has broken and now "only" needs to hold to take the second set and double his lead. PHM can come from two down though, as he proved against Bjorn Phau in the first round (and who could forget his match against Isner in the second which finished 18-16 in the decider? The poor guy must be cooked...)
6.38 pm: Woz battles, takes it to deuce but Special K is not for the taking, holding service with a beautiful two-handed backhand down the line. 3-0 to the well-built Estonian.
6.30 pm: Milos gets to 15-40 - two set points - and can take neither, netting twice. It goes back to 5-5 and Milos may well rue that come the tie-break (assuming it gets that far). Special K (Kaia Kanepi) meanwhile has broken Caro Woz to lead 2-0. And ooh, Eduardo Schwank has just saved a set point with a serve and volley. Can he do it again, at 30-40, 1-5? Nope, Rafa lures him into a rally, the Argentinean goes large, Kevin and Perry-style, and the first set is in the pink panther's bag, 6-1.
6.17 pm: Kanepi has elected to serve in the North European derby, the battle of the blondes.
6.13 pm: The pink panther (you know who I mean) sends an unmissable smash straight into the net nto give Schwank a break point. The Argentinean then gets the chance of a lifetime after sending up a desperation lob which clips the baseline, only to send his follow-up a mile long (and I mean a mile). Deuce.
6 pm: Nadal's 3-0 (two breaks) up, Monaco took the second 6-3 to level his match with Raonic and Granollers nabbed the opener 6-4 against Paul-Henri Mathieu. And Kanepi - Wozniacki will soon be under way on Lenglen.
5.56 pm: Wow. Ritchie double-bagels the final two sets. Gasquet is through in four and will face Murray againnext up! Those two have some previous: the H2H is 3-3, with Murray beating a resurgent Ritchie here two years ago in the tie of the first round and also at Wimbledon in 2008 when the Frenchman was two sets up and the (pre-roof) light was fading. Gasquet got some measure of revenge at Rome this year, defeating the Muzzard in three.
5.51 pm: Nadal breaks to open. Anything Nole can do (dropping five games to Devilder last night), Raf can do better? We shall see.
5.44 pm: Gasquet is unstoppable at the moment and is racking up the games. 4-0 in the fourth (and final?) set.
5.39 pm: Nadal and Schwank are out on Chatrier. If the Argentinean wins today he will be the lowest-ranked player ever to beat Rafa at a Slam (at the moment, Gilles Muller has that honour, defeating a teenage Rafa at Wimbledon in 2005). Eddie is a qualifer ranked No.192 in the world, so this would be quite an upset!
5.30 pm: Wow, the Tommy Haas fairytale renaissance may be coming to a swift and dramatic end: Ritchie Gasquet has just inflicted a bagel on him to take a 2-1 lead. Whoosh. Tommy's looking every one of his 34 years out there, and perhaps the hip and shoulder injuries he suffered are catching up with him (he missed 14months from Feb 2010 to April 2011, hence being outside the rankings for direct acceptance).
5.18 pm: Oh Shuai, you couldn't even hold service twice and uphold your end of the bargain! No 6-0, 6-0; 6-1, 6-1; 6-2, 6-2 series but Maria Sharapova wins anyway, 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes. The statuesque Siberian will face charming Czech Klara Zakopalova in the fourth round.
5.06 pm: Gasquet breaks and takes the second 6-3! We have a match on our hands! And in other French news (I keep writing that, but that's because so many Frenchies are involved), Paul-Henri "world No.261" Mathieu is 2-2 in the first set with Marcel "No.20 seed" Granollers.
5 pm: Meeeelowsh Rownitch (as we pronounce Milos Raonic) mini-breaks in the tie-break then fires down a hyooooge service (as is his wont), puts the return away and that's the first set in the bag for the missile from Thornhill, Ontario.
4.59 pm: I don't know whether Peng's going to get the requisite two games this set. Masha breaks to lead 3-0 and the Chinese No.2 is looking all at sea.
4.49 pm: Sharapova takes the opener 6-2. Cruisin'. Will she win this 6-2, 6-2, after opening with a 6-0, 6-0 and following it up with a 6-1, 6-1?
4.42 pm: Peng Shuai is resorting to moonballs but that's meat and drink to Maria, who is also two-handed-backhanding it down the line with aplomb. 5-2, Masha to serve for the set right about... now!
4.39 pm: Murray is through, 3, 4 and 4. Just another day at the office for the Scotsman, who will face the winner of Haas/Gasquet. Ooh, Murray .v. Haas - I'd fancy a slice of that action!
4.30 pm: Haas takes the opener in a one-sided tie-break. The Frenchies are a-falling. And what a story this is - Haas back with a bang, 10 years after he was world No.2 (in between Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi).
4.20 pm: Na Li is through 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. The reigning champion is coming through some stern tests which can only help her as she bids to regain the form which has deserted her ever since she won here last year. The 30-year-old will face Yaroslava Shvedova on Monday - iiiiinteresting.
4.03 pm: Here come Maria Sharapova and the Chinese No.28 seed Peng Shuai. The Russian world No.2 is sporting her very fetching shorty black jacket. Elsewhere No.13 Juan Monaco is under way against No.19 Milos Raonic. A pure claycourter versus a big-hitter. This'll be interesting but I'd expect Pico to come through.
3.52 pm: Nope, nothing doing, the Frenchman can't reply and Janko Tipsarevic is through in straight sets, 3, 5 and 4. Fair play to Bennet' though - he won two matches more here than he thought he'd even play with his elbow and ankle injuries. The bespectacled Serb meanwhile will face No.12 seed in the Round of 16. That'll be a tight battle.
3.49 pm: Mixed news for the Frenchies - Gasquet has broken back, but if Benneteau doesn't break now, and I mean right now, his tournament's over.
3.44 pm: It goes via 15-30 and deuce but Murray does indeed serve out to take a two-set lead. The Scotsman defeated the Colombian for the loss of just three games in the Round of 16 in Barcelona this year, shortly before getting this back injury that is still bothering him.
3.30 pm: Murray's snuck another break in and will soon serve for the second set. Tommy Haas is under way against Richard Gasquet in our match of the day (see link below) and the 34-year-old qualifier has already broken Ritchie! Tipsy and Benneteau meanwhile are deadlocked in the third which is going with service.
3.19 pm: Murray stole a late break and took the opener 6-3, and it's now 2-2 in the second. He seems to be moving fine but it's usually easier once you've warmed up and got everything stretched.
3.08 pm: Nicolas Almagro is through, with a minimum of fuss against Leonardo Mayer, dropping just seven games to the overmatched Argentinean. Slick Nic. the No.12 seed will face Tipsarevic (or Bennet') in the Round of 16.
3.05 pm: OK, Billie Jean King versus Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1972 was the last all-married final, I reckon. Onyhoo, Tipsarevic broke in the 11th and held in the 12th to take the second set and a 2-0 lead over Bennet'. I predicted that only two Frenchies would be left in the second week and I may well be right (Jo-Wil is through, Bennet', Mathieu and Gasquet are in action today).
2.55 pm: Madame Li plays a beaut of a backhand half-volley into the corner and breaks to lead McHale 3-1. Christa's safe (for the moment) as the second-placed American in the race for the Olympics. Elsewhere in the women's, Madame Zakopalova has 6-3d the opener against Russian No.22 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Shame they're in the same half of the draw otherwise we could have had an all-married final, for the first time since... er... (I'll look it up).
2.45 pm: Ooh, Murray's under way against Santiago Giraldo, an unheralded Colombian. Three-time Slam champion Viriginia Wade has described Muzzer as a drama queen for complaining about his back, and Henri Leconte, who made the final here back in 1988 only to freeze against Wilander, also laid into the Scotsman. Let's see how he does today - he seems to be moving a little gingerly but that's par for the course for him...
2.30 pm: Madame Li is back in business. After a huge game of all the deuces she finally breaks McHale to take the second set 6-2. Almagro has also taken the second but that puts him 2-0 up over Mayer.
2.16 pm: SCHIAVONE IS OUT! Lepchenko defeats the 2010 champ and 2011 runner-up in a three-hour epic, 8-6 in the decider. She faces Kvitova next up and could surprise the 2011 Wimbledon champ, who is fragile on clay. She's up to 1209 ranking points and ahead of Sloane Stephens in the US Olympic race. Sloane of course is still in and faces Sam Stosur tomorrow in the Round of 16. If both Sloane and Varvara win then Venus won't make the Olympics!
2.07 pm: Almagro has 6-4d the opener over Mayer and, check this, McHale has 6-3d here opener over Na Li! At this rate the only former champion in the fourth round will be Sveta!
2.02 pm: 6-5 Schiave. Cracking match there - Franny with her whipped forehands, Varvs with the rangy lefty angles. Nope, scratch that - Varvs holds to lurv! 6s. No breaker. They're going to battle it out to the bitter end. On Chatrier, No.8 seed Janko Tipsarevic has 6-3d the opener over Julien Benneteau, who of course is in his first tourney back after fracturing his elbow and spraining his ankle in Monte Carlo. He's battled (today's word) through to round three here but he's going to be found out today by the world No.8l, I reckon.
1.55 pm: Schiavone holds and when Lepchenko serves for the match, nerves set in. At 15-30 she shanks one off the frame way long, then at 15-40, disaster strikes - double fault. Franny's back level at 5-5!
1.45 pm: Schiavone's still alive but 5-3 down in the third. Elsewhere we have the woman who conquered her last year, Li Na, who has been broken early doors and trails Christina McHale 2-4. It's USA! USA! USA! all the way today.
1.30 pm: Nicolas Almagro versus Leonardo Mayer. 26-year-old versus 25-year-old. World No.12 versus world No.62. 12 titles versus none. Spain versus Argentina. Slick Nic for me all the way, but it's going with service in the opening set. Lepchenko meanwhile is a break to the good over Schiavone! Is it all over for the women who has featured in the past two finals?
1.03 pm: Lepchenko's won the second set 6-3 and taken it to a decider and I'd love her to get through! What a battler.
12.56 pm: Ferrer opens the door to the winners' circle and Pet Kvit follows him through! Petra Kvitova defeats Bratchikova 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in a match that she made harder than it should have been, but she's always liable to drop a set on clay. The reigning Wimbledon champ will face the winner of Schiavone - Lepchenko, who has just broken to make it 5-3 in the second. Decider, anyone? Methinks it's on the cards. And Yaroslava Shvedova is rolling back the years, having defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 7-5. The bespectacles Kazak qualifier'll be up against the winner of Christa McHale and Madame Li on Monday.
12.53 pm: First winner of the day is a man, who got through his three sets before any of the laydeez could get through their two. David Ferrer defeats Youzhny 0, 2 and 2 and will face the winner of Granollers / Mathieu in the Round of 16 on Monday. Dabeed's going to the semis, I say.
12.50 pm: Lepchenko will not let go. The rangy lefty was 15-40 down there but she's battled back to deuce. Pet Kvit meanwhile is nearly there, 4-1 to the good, but the Bratch is a-battling still.
12.45 pm: Yoiks, Youzhny had a break-back point there but Ferrer swept it aside before going on to record a break of his own: 5-2 to him in the final, sorry third set. Carla Suarez Navarro has parlayed her brand of high-energy two-handed tennis into a break-back, and she leads Yaroslava Shvedova 5-4 in the second.
12.31 pm: Pet Kvit has got the wind in her sails and has done the hold-break-hold threestep to open the decider. It's 2-2 between Lepchenko and Schiavone in a cracking tussle, and Ferrer has broken Youzhny and should be home and hosed soon.
12.21 pm: Plenty of battles among the laydeez this morning (well afternoon now actually). Pet Kvit battles back but there is to be no denying Bratchikova, who takes the second 6-4. Lepchenko holds to open the second, keepng the Olympic (and French Open) dream alive. And wow, Shvedova took the opener 6-4 over Carla Suarez Tenerife.
12.07 pm: Ferrer's two to the good - 6-0, 6-2. And Schiavone - Lepchenko is finally 6-3. Wow, that last game was a 15-minuter. I said it would be Franny in two tight ones and (for once) I was not wrong.
11.59 am: It's all going pear-shaped for Pet Kvit on Chatrier - Bratchikova, who is a little Cibulkova-esque player with punchy forehands and bashed double-fisted backhands - has broken twice to lead 4-1.
11.45 am: Lepchenko is battling hard to stay with Schiavone. She was born in Uzbekistan but became a US citizen last year. If she wins today, she'll leapfrog Sloane Stephens and if she then wins her fourth-round tie, she'll go ahead of Venus. This is all-important in terms of Olympic qualification: Serena's in, McHale (still in the tourney) seems to have second sewn up and then after that, we have any two from four to make it into the Olympic team (Venus, Stephens, Lepchenko and Vania King, but the latter will struggle to make it now).
11.40 am: Youzhny is on the board! He's a mere one break down in the second set after finally putting a crooked number on the board. Ha! And then he wrote "Sorry!" in the clay! What a card he is! I like Mikhail, he's good fun. Tough to interview though - he speaks at 1,000 words per minute in a thick Russian brogue.
11.28 am: Hoo cha cha! Ferrer bagels Youzhny in less than half-an-hour! By George, by Jingo, by crikey - I was backing Ferrer but not quite to that extent! I reckon Dabeed will make the semis this year - you read it here first.
11.22 am: Bratch breaks back. That wasn't in the little Pet Kvit script. We also have a match on Court No.7, which is a great court to watch tennis (the crowd are banked alongside and the atmosphere is great): Carla Suarez Navarro versus Kazak qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova. CSN was a break up but Yara has broken back. Two years ago, the Russian-born Kazak was in the top 30 when she reached the quarters here. She seems to love the Paris clay, having won plenty of matches here in the past, but her Grand Slam doubles titles have come at Wimbledon and the US Open.
11.14 am: Ferrer - Youzhny. The pocket rocket from Valencia won their only ever meeting on red dirt at the World Team Cup in 2008, but their H2H is 4-2 in favour of Mikhail, he of the Russian army salute with his racquet on his head whenever he wins a match. Iiiiiiinteresting... I'm still going for Dabeeeed though. And he leads 2-0 already. Ooh, and my little Pet Kvit is a break to the good as well.
11.13 am: OK, my predictions for the first round of matches this morning - Kvitova in two, Schiavone in two tight ones, maybe three over Lepchenko, and Ferrer over Youzhny in three.
11 am: Petra Kvitova is out on Chatrier, ready to take on Nina Bratchikova. As regular readers know, I've been championing my little Pet Kvit for a couple of years now and I was delighted when she won Wimbledon last year. She'll surely have too much for the 26-year-old Russian (and Portugal resident) who is ranked 105 places below her in the world, but the latter did beat Monica Niculescu (the No.32 seed) in the first round.
10.30 am: Hello everybody, it's time to finish off the third round! Kvitova, Ferrer, Schiavone first up, then Sharapova, Nadal, Li, Wozniacki and Murray later on. What a cracking day's entertainment, with places in the Round of 16 at stake. We'll be here all day following every minute of every game, and you can follow it wish us, both here and on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. And
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