Day 8 at the French Open–Shocker

When Roger Federer made the finals of the 2008 Wimbledon finals, he was going for a record sixth straight Wimbledon title, breaking Borg’s five consecutive Wimbledons in the Open era. Could he surpass the amazing Swede?

In the dusk of London, Rafael Nadal finally broke through, breaking Roger and holding to win his first Wimbledon. Roger tied, but could not break the record.

This year, Rafael Nadal was going for his fifth consecutive French Open. Borg had won 6 titles, but only 4 in a row (1978-1981). People were speculating in a rather silly way that there was a Borg curse. That you didn’t break Borg’s records.

Of course, this is folly. Sampras and Federer have broken plenty of Grand Slam records. Sampras with overall Wimbledon titles, Federer with number of consecutive US Opens (Borg never won the US Open).

So almost everyone believed Nadal would break Borg’s consecutive French open title record. With two titles and a finals appearance on the three clays Masters 1000 events (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid) and with a beatdown of Lleyton Hewitt, most felt that there were only a handful of people who could beat Nadal. They included Federer, Djokovic, and perhaps, on a lucky day, Fernando Verdasco.

Of all the people who you might think could take Nadal down, you’d have to go down a pretty long list to come up with the name Robin Soderling.

The 24 year old Swede, 6 foot 4, had never beaten Nadal. You might expect Soderling to challenge Nadal on grass where the big Swede’s huge serve rivals Ivo Karlovic. Think of him as Karlovic Junior with better groundstrokes.

Soderling had played Nadal as recently as Rome this year where he took 1 game off Nadal in a straight set pummeling. He lost in straight sets to Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006. This did not look like a man who was ready to take the king of clay down.

When Soderling took the first set, 6-2, attention picked up. Nadal had not dropped a set last year in 2008. He had yet to drop a set this year. And to drop a set so convincingly. Something must be going on.

Soderling pushed Nadal to a second set tiebreak, which Nadal won, and it seemed this would be enough for Nadal to get a four set win. Surely, Soderling wasn’t tough enough to hang with the master. He’d crack.

But no, he breaks Nadal at 3-all in the third set to take a 4-3 lead. Ten minutes later, he’s serving for the set at 5-4 and takes the third set.

Soderling stood calm. In the fourth set, Soderling fell back an early break. He managed to break back. You have to give credit to a guy to keep his nerve and keep holding serve, especially against a player as formidable as Nadal. Soderling had deuce games on his serves, but continued to power tough ground strokes which Nadal seemed, at times, helpless to recover.

In the tiebreak, Soderling served to go up 1-0, then Nadal held 1 of 2 points, and Soderling was up 2-1. Soderling held both points to go up 4-1, then took both points off Nadal for a 6-1 lead. Nadal hit a great forehand to get to 6-2. Soderling hits a short ball which Nadal attacks. On the pass, Nadal volleys the shot just wide, and Nadal has lost for the first time ever on the clay. As great as Nadal is at the backcourt, he’s vulnerable coming to net where most of the top players pass incredibly well. Soderling won two points on Nadal approaches to the net during the tiebreak.

How did Soderling win? To be fair, Nadal was not on his game for whatever reason. However, that’s not usually enough to beat Rafa. The other player also has to win points too.

Soderling used smart forays to the net to diffuse Nadal. He won 27 of 35 points at the net. More critically, he was amazing on break points. He broke 5 of 6 opportunities he had, which basically meant that if Nadal was down break point, Soderling won the game.

The whole draw opens up in Nadal’s half. In particular, Verdasco has a chance to come through his half. Murray will need to play huge tennis to get to the semis. He has to get past Fernando Gonzalez, and if he gets past him, possibly Verdasco too.

Can Soderling actually use this win to move on? Past experience says no. When Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon, he lost in the next round to Tim Henman. It’s hard to engineer an upset, then to continue to ride a string of upsets forward. Soderling does have some weapons, especially on serve, so he could make that leap, but with so many tough players in his half, getting to the final would be an unbelievable achievement.

Perhaps, on this most monumental of upsets, they need a new slogan for the tournament.

Roland Garros.

Where impossible happens.

(Note: Davydenko just opened up with a 6-2 first set over Verdasco. This tournament is going crazy).

Day 8 at the French Open

Victor Hanescu had yet to drop a set at Roland Garros, but his opponent, Fernando Gonzalez had yet to drop a set either.

Someone had to give, and that someone was Hanescu.

Here’s a telling stat. Hanescu had 16 winners to 8 unforced errors. A pretty tidy match for Hanescu.

In a straight set blowout, however, Gonzo had 50 winners to 16 unforced errors. To put this in perspective, another Fernando, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, hit under 100 winners in a 5 set thriller against Nadal at the US Open. 95 winners to 76 unforced errors, to be precise. If you double Gonzo’s winners and errors, you’d get 100 errors to 32 unforced errors.

By the end, Hanescu looked like he had been beaten down, unable to run down shots, or find anything that would hurt the confident Chilean.

Final score: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

In a match that looked like it would be a big challenge for Andy Murray, Murray came through in a tight match against Croat, Marin Cilic. The first set was pretty much both players dominating on serve. After each serve, the server would dominate the rally, and then win the game. This went on until 5-all when Murray engineered a break.

Cilic essentially took a Gonzalez strategy. He went for bigger shots, but then made a truckload of errors. He hit 41 winners, but 40 unforced errors, many of these big shots off either forehand or backhand that went wide or long with startling frequency. Murray, meanwhile, moved the ball around well, but was stingy with errors. He had 14 unforced errors and 24 winners.

Murray did have a break lead in the second set, but Cilic broke back, and the second set eventually went into a tiebreak which Murray won easily.

Cilic’s play started getting more shaky, and Murray broke Cilic several times, to win the third set easily, 6-1.

There’s been no live coverage of a potentially big upset brewing. Last year, Nadal did not drop a set. No one expected him to drop two sets. Soderling took the first set with a shocking score of 6-2. He was down a break in the second, but managed to break, and the second set went to a tiebreak, which Nadal won. Soderling showed mental toughness and again broke for a 6-4 third set. In the fourth set, Nadal was up an early break, but Soderling broke back to even the set score.

Will this be the biggest upset ever? Nadal’s the toughest guy mentally on tour and has never been challenged like this on his favorite surface.

Day 7 at the French Open

Federer is probably breathing a sigh of relief. Of course, he needs to handle his end of business, but to not have to face Djokovic means he doesn’t have to deal with one rival that’s given him a lot of problems recently.

In a stunning upset, German, Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated fourth seed, Novak Djokovic, who most people had felt was the second strongest clay court player based on clay court season form.

Kohlschreiber wins 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

In that section of the draw that Djokovic was coming out of, the four players are now: del Potro, Tsonga, Kohlschreiber and Robredo. It’s a tough section, and looks good for anyone. On form, del Potro is the one that’s playing the best, with Tsonga perhaps the most talented.

Tommy Robredo beat Argentinian, Maximo Gonzalez (age: 25, rank: 71) in four sets: 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-0. Sounds like either Gonzalez got tired or Robredo caught fire at the end. Robredo faces Kohlschreiber next. Robredo has won all three encounters, twice on clay, and beat him recently in Rome in straight sets.

Andy Roddick cruised over Marc Giquel winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. This is the first time Roddick has made it to the fourth round at Roland Garros. Up next for Roddick is Monfils. They have a 3-3 head-to-head record with Roddick winning the last three encounters on hard courts/indoors. Monfils has beaten Roddick twice on clay however.

Although Giquel didn’t win, two of his countrymen did. Despite ho-hum results, Monfils has been having a very nice French Open. He beat lefty Austrian, Jurgen Melzer, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has an easier win over Belgian, Christophe Rochus, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Tommy Haas beat another Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Haas has had a history of bad injuries, so it’s nice to see him playing well again. He will face the winner of Federer-Mathieu.

del Potro beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. He appears to be peaking at the right time. However, his section of the draw is very challenging. Up next for del Potro is Tsonga. He leads their head to head 2-0, but they’ve never met on clay.

Federer is having another interesting match. He and Paul-Henri Mathieu have split sets. 6-4 to Mathieu in the first set, and 6-1 to Roger in the second. 3-all in the third.

Tennis Channel probably has a deal with NBC not to televise the match at all so NBC can bring the whole match, tape delayed to viewers. Sad, but true!

CORRECTION: NBC is televising the Federer-Mathieu match live. They are in the fourth set. Federer broke Mathieu late in the third set and managed to hold for 6-4. Federer is up two sets to 1 and just broke to open the fourth set. Mathieu grunts a bit like Ferrer.

Day 6 at the French Open, Addendum

Make sure you read the earlier post on Day 6 action!

How often does this happen?

You’ve played ATP World Team Championship with your fellow Serb, Viktor Troicki, and won this Davis Cup wannabe tournament on clay against Germany.

You come into the French Open feeling pretty good about your form. You beat two guys that play well on the dirt in the first two rounds: Albert Montanes of Spain and Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Your third round match is against someone that still finds clay unfriendly, a guy, despite his number 3 seeding that has never made it past the third round of any major clay event until this year.

You’ve told the press that you think you can expose Andy Murray’s lack of clay court prowess by making him move around. When the match starts, you get a two break lead.

And then.

Andy Murray begins to come back. He breaks once. He breaks a second time. He takes the first set in a tiebreak.

And then the second set starts, and you get broken again. Worse still–a groin injury! You call the trainer. You get a rubdown. This isn’t looking good.

But you break back. Your opponent is furious. You hold serve. It’s 2-1. Then, Murray holds, but you’re not feeling 100%. You lose the next serve. It’s 3-2. Then, he holds again and you fight to hold your own serve. 5-3. And then another break of your serve. It’s 6-3. Two sets down. An injury to deal with. You decide, that’s enough. You tell the umpire you must retire. You shake your opponent’s hand. You leave, disappointed at the chances you had.

Andy Murray makes it to the fourth round of Roland Garros for the very first time as Janko Tipsarevic retires due to injury. It’s impressive that the highest seeds almost never have injury problems (aside from Djokovic), as if they have some secret training that only they are told about. Players retire during matches all the time, but rarely does it affect any of the top seeds.

Andy Murray is now on a tour of former Yugoslavia. After playing Serb, Tipsarevic, up next is the Croat, Marin Cilic. Cilic has yet to drop a set with victories over Henrych of the Czech Republic (age: 29, rank: 74), Sela of Israel (age: 24, rank: 55), and Stepanek also of the Czech Republic (age: 30, rank: 29). Ranked 13 in the world, he’s likely to give Murray a huge fight.

Murray has beaten him twice in head-to-head matches, once in Madrid. No, not the Madrid that was just played on clay two weeks ago: the one played last year indoors. Both head-to-head matches were close matches on faster surfaces.

In other news, Swede Robin Soderling beat Spaniard David Ferrer in four sets: 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Soderling gets the pleasure of playing Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

On Day 7, the French are out in force. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga plays Christophe Rochus. This will be Rochus’s third Frenchman in three rounds (first round: Santoro, second round: Clement). Roger Federer plays Paul-Henri Mathieu. Gael Monfils plays Jurgen Melzer. Jeremy Chardy plays Tommy Haas. Andy Roddick plays Marc Giquel.

Other top matches are Novak Djokovic against Philipp Kohlschreiber and Juan Martin del Potro against Igor Andreev.

Day 6 at the French, Early Edition

As third round matches begin, there were a few folks that had to complete second round matches. In particular, up two sets to none against Russian, Sergiy Stahkovsky, Djokovic had to wait until today to complete the third set.

The third set was merely a formality, taken 6-1 in merely 35 minutes of play. The final score: 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany was locked in a battle with former number 1, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The two also had to wait until to day to complete the fifth set. Kohlschreiber took the fifth, 6-3. Final score: 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Winning a third round match is the goal of two Andy’s: Andy Murray and Andy Roddick, neither of whom have made it past the third round of the French. Winners of the third round head into the second week which is comparable to making it to the “Sweet Sixteen” of American NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championships, often nicknamed “March Madness”. To survive to the final 16 is quite the accomplishment.

The third round is where the matches become more competitive as top seeds begin to meet one another.

Verdasco vs Almagro is the battle of two hard hitting Spaniards. Verdasco had won all prior encounters. Given his newfound fitness and confidence, Verdasco is starting to win matches like these. He was given a challenge, but still won in straight sets: 6-2, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8).

Fernando Gonzalez continues to roll as he beats surprising upstart, Josselin Ouanna. Ouanna had beaten Granollers of Spain and Marat Safin before falling to the hard hitting Chilean: 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.

Nikolay Davydenko has been on the road to recovery and beat his first big challenge, Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka: 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In current play, Nadal has won the first set 6-1 over Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal is up a break in the second, leading 4-3.

28 year old Victor Hanescu has taken a 2 set to love lead over Frenchman Gilles Simon: 6-4, 6-4, in what promises to be the first upset of the day.

Marin Cilic appears headed to a straight set victory over Czech, Radek Stepanek. He leads 6-1, 7-6 (4), 4-1.

David Ferrer and Robin Soderling are in a first set tiebreak.

UPDATE: Nadal has crushed Hewitt: 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Looking a lot like last year. Hanescu beat Simon in straight sets: 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. This is an upset, but Simon hasn’t played well this year. Hanescu appears to have a speedy second serve.

Cilic beat Stepanek 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Ferrer won the opening set tiebreak against Soderling (7 points to 5). 5-all in the second set.

Day 5 at the French Open. Addendum

Make sure to read the previous post for results from earlier in the day.

Despite close matches with Czech Ivo Minar in the past and despite only getting to the 3rd round of Roland Garros once, Andy Roddick made quick work of his 25 year old opponent, serving 15 aces. Score was: 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

The French continue to do well. Despite a bum knee, Gael Monfils won his match over Romanian, Victor Crivoi (age: 27, rank: 99) in straight sets: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

Fellow Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, had his hands full against up-and-comer, Juan Monaco. They went four sets: 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8). He is joined by compatriot, Paul-Henri Mathieu, who won in straight sets over Pablo Andujar (age: 23, rank: 101) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Christophe Rochus of Belgium knocked out his second Frenchman in a row. He beat Fabrice Santoro in four sets in the first round (Santoro expects to retire this year) and then veteran, Arnaud Clement, also in four sets: 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Tommy Haas needed five sets to beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina (who beat James Blake in the first round): 6-3, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. Mayer is 22 years old and ranked 93.

Two matches were suspended and will continue tomorrow. Novak Djokovic was up two sets to none over Sergiy Stakhovsky (age: 23, rank: 110).

Philipp Kohlschreiber and Juan Carlos Ferrero have split sets. Kohlscreiber took the first and third sets, both by the score of 6-4. Ferrero took the second set, 6-2. and the fourth set, 7-6(3).

Now that we’re into the third round, Day 6, has promising matches: Nadal plays Hewitt (tied 4-all in head to head, though Nadal has won the last 3 meetings, including 2 on clay), Gonzalez vs. Ouanna (who beat Safin in five sets). The two have never met.

Murray plays Tipsarevic (tied 2-2 in head to head, never met on clay, Murray won last match on hardcourts), Almagro plays Verdasco (Verdasco leads head-to-head 2-0, both on clay), Soderling plays Ferrer (Soderling has 4-2 record, but Ferrer has won the last two), Stepanek plays Cilic (Stepanek has 1-0 record, but last played in 2007), Davydenko plays Wawrinka (never met).

Day 5 at the French, Early Edition

Jose Acasuso, 45th ranked player from Argentina, can add his name to the list that includes Tomas Berdych and Janko Tipsarevic, men who gave Roger Federer a scare in a major.

Acasuso was effectively trading groundstrokes with Federer, pressuring him off the ground, leaving Federer scrambling much like Andy Murray was scrambling.

A day after Andy Murray dug deep from 5-1 in the third set against Italian, Potito Starace, to win in four tough sets, Federer found himself playing a suprisingly hard hitting Argentinian.

You expect someone like Murray to struggle against lesser opponents. He doesn’t have the power of Federer, nor the heavy ball of Nadal. He doesn’t seem to hit much harder than his opponents. Tight matches are expected. But Federer? Here’s a guy that takes risks, hits low percentage shots. In rallies, he’s often taking advantage of the situation. You don’t often see players attempting to dictate to Federer. And yet here was Jose Acasuso, trading tough groundies (and he had a one-handed backhand!) doing just that. It looked for all the world that Acasuso was going to upset the world number 2, making the hoped for meeting of Nadal vs Federer moot.

Acasuso had a break in the first set and was up in the first set tiebreak, only to lose the tiebreak 10-8. Despite the loss of the first set, Acasuso continued to pressure Roger taking the second set 7-5. Up 4-0 in the third, then 5-1, Acasuso was unable to press a two set advantage. Federer stormed back and forced a tiebreak, which he won easily, 7-2. After that, Acasuso had nothing more to offer, as Federer confidently finished the fourth set, 6-2.

The bad news for Federer was that he struggled in a second match (his first, he won easily, but he didn’t look that sharp). The good news is that he’s looked better as the match goes longer. Normally, against better players, Federer starts off well, then fades at the end.

These kinds of matches separate good players (those ranked 40ish) from great players. When great players are struggling, they still manage to win, and the good players begin to wilt under the pressure. Federer is likely to say that Acasuso played him tough, but he’s not worried, that he is happy with the way he fought back, similar words to those of Andy Murray when he explained his struggles in the second round.

They say tennis is 90% mental. The physical component is certainly important. No one doubts that Federer and Nadal hit shots better than others. But the mental component is just as important. It allows these players to win close matches, and to come back when they are down.

On to the rest of the matches.

Former world number 4, Nikolay Davydenko, has been steadily working his way through the draw. He beat another Argentinian, Diego Junquiera (age: 28, rank: 80), in four sets: 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2.

In one of the tougher matchups of the second round, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy beat Italian Simone Bolelli, in five sets: 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1.

Spaniard Tommy Robredo continues to roll through the early rounds beating fellow Spaniard, Daniel Gimeno-Traver (age: 23, rank: 114) in straight sets: 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Igor Andreev, 25th seed, had a tough five setter against an Argentinian as well. He beat Martin Vassallo Arguello (age: 29, rank: 49): 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Finally, in a match that was expected to give del Potro problems, an easy straight set match instead. del Potro beat Serb, Viktor Troicki (age: 23 rank: 32): 6-3, 7-5, 6-0.

Day 4 at the French Open, Addendum

Former world number 1′s have been doing well. Juan Carlos Ferrero won his first round match over Ivan Ljubicic. Lleyton Hewitt beat Ivo Karlovic in the first round. Today, he had a nice victory of Kazakh, Andrey Golubev (age: 21, rank: 88), 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

Hewitt’s reward for this? A date with current world number 1, Rafael Nadal. The series is surprisingly tied at 4-all, though all of Hewitt’s victories have been on hard courts or grass, and he hasn’t beaten Nadal since 2006 Queen’s Club.

Hewitt has played Rafa twice at Roland Garros, once in 2006 and once in 2007. He’s managed to take one set off of Rafa in these two meetings.

Although Hewitt’s rank has slipped to 48, much like Juan Carlos Ferrero, he still has that champion’s fight in him. He’ll probably play Rafa reasonably tight but lose in straight sets, or take a set, if he can manage it. He’s likely to be Rafa’s toughest opponent so far.

Radek Stepanek had a fairly tough fight over Frenchman, Mathieu Montcourt (age: 24, rank: 123) winning in four sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafa, not surprisingly, beat Gabashvili (age 24, rank 72) in straight sets: 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. This is his 30th consecutive win at Roland Garros, a record.

After ekeing out a 5 set win, Stan Wawrinka had a relaxed win over Chilean and former gold medalist, Nicolas Massu (age: 29, rank: 120), 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Fernando Gonzalez had a deja vu moment, beating his second round opponent, Rui Machado of Portugal (age: 25, rank: 130) by the same score as his first round opponent: 6-3. 6-2. 6-3.

Janko Tipsarevic, who famously took Roger Federer to 5 sets at the Australian Open in 2007, beat 28th seed, Feliciano Lopez: 6-7 (9), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Up next for the Serb is Scot, Andy Murray.

David Ferrer had a surprisingly tough time against the German veteran, Nicolas Kiefer (age: 31, rank: 37), winning in 5 sets: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Goes to show you that a high ranked player (ranked above 50) can give most seeded players some trouble.

Two of the older French players on two had different results. Both were finishing late 1st round matches from Tuesday.

36 year old, Fabrice Santoro, lost to 30 year old, Christophe Rochus of Belgium: 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Santoro told French crowds this would be his last French Open, after 20 appearances.

31 year old Arnaud Clement (rank: 57) beat 26 year old (and 21st seed), Dmitry Tursunov: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Day 5 has 46th ranked Jose Acasuso playing world number 2, Roger Federer. Federer has won all 3 previous meetings, all on hard courts.

A surprising number of Frenchman are scheduled to play Thursday: Monfils, Clement, Mathieu, Chardy, Rufin, and Giquel. Americans that made it to the second round? 2.

Andy Roddick looks to equal his best result at Roland Garros. He plays Czech, Ivo Minar (age: 25, rank: 85). They’ve met 3 times before. Roddick holds a 3-0 head-to-head, and has even played Minar on clay. However, the two have played very close matches in the past, even on faster surfaces. Expect a tight match.

Quick note: Mathieu Moncourt is being fined $12,000 and banned five weeks of play for betting about US $200 on tennis matches (not his). Andy Murray thought this fine was inappropriate for the amount in question. Coincidentally, Murray’s opponent, Potito Starace was banned for 6 weeks and fined $30,000 in December 2007 for roughly similar amounts of betting.

Another note: Marat Safin doesn’t pull it out. After coming from two sets to love down and forcing a fifth set, he loses to Josselin Ouanna of France (age: 23, rank: 134). Score: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 3-6, 10-8.

Day 4 at the French, Early Edition

After a convincing first round victory over former top 20 player, Juan Ignacio Chela, it was fashionable to believe that Murray was starting to figure out this clay surface, and that a deep run might be possible. 27 year old Italian, Potito Starace, ranked 107 in the world (but in the top 30 only 2 years ago) appeared to be little challenge.

After taking the first set 6-3, Murray looked like he was cruising to a comfortable win. Not so fast. Starace came storming back, taking the second set, 6-2, and then going up 5-1 in the third set. All of a sudden, Murray looked like he was headed for a surprise second round exit. Starace was starting to dominate rallies. With Murray retreating many feet behind the baseline, Starace was able to employ a tactic Murray himself loves so much: the drop shot.

This isn’t 2007 Andy Murray nor even 2008 clay court Andy Murray. That Andy Murray would likely have lost the third set and given away the fourth, unable to muster the resolve to come back. Heading into his second year under coach Miles Maclagan (and assisted by Alex Corretja), Murray now works hard to win matches and rarely has bad losses any more. When he’s down, he often fights back to winning positions.

Down two breaks, Murray began to play more aggressive. Rather than exchange neutral rallies and let Starace dictate play, Murray moved the ball around, looking for angles on forehand and backhand, and taking hard shots when opportunities arose. While Murray is perfectly capable of playing this style, he seems reluctant to embrace aggression, fond as he is of making his opponent play the silly shot, while he patiently maneuvers the ball around the court. This style gets him into trouble against most wily clay court veterans who play with comparable pace to Murray, so much so that it often feels like Murray is the one scrambling to win points. Were it not for Murray’s anticipation and defensive skills, he’d lose a number of these matches.

Murray won one game, then another, then another. Starace’s confidence seemed to wither by the moment. When Murray took the sixth and final game and won the third set, momentum appeared to have shifted to the Scot.

However, Starace is a veteran, not so easily swayed by a monumental collapse. He kept the fourth set quite close until late when Murray, off the strength of good returns and aggressive hitting broke Starace at 5-4 to take the fourth set, 6-4.

Andy Murray is now in the third round where he’ll face the winner of Feliciano Lopez and Janko Tipsarevic.

Much like 2008, Americans continue to wilt under the terre battue. The crushed brick and limestone has not been kind lately to Americans. 2009 is even worse. Where Odesnik and Ginepri both made it to at least the third round in 2008, this year, only Andy Roddick has a chance to move that far. Robert Kendrick was matched against Frenchman, Gilles Simon.

Although Simon’s record has been spotty this year, he’s recently played a little better. The two played a tight first set, which went to the Frenchman 7-5. Kendrick had opportunities to break. Then the wheels came off and Simon raced off with the next two sets: 6-0 and 6-1.

Victor Hanescu won over Mikhail Youzhny in three tight sets: 7-5, 7-5, 7-5.

Ernests Gulbis still finds himself on the losing end of too many matche, making it more doubtful whether this talented Latvian will ever find his way at the game’s upper echelon. Gulbis loses to big serving Nicolas Almagro: 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

Verdasco had an easy win over German, Philipp Petzschner (age 25, rank 67), 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Marin Cilic had an easy win over Israeli, Dudi Sela (age 24, rank 55), 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.

Janko Tipsarevic and Feliciano Lopez are battling it out. Tipsarevic is up 2 sets to 1, and they are even in the fourth.

Rafa, Stepanek, Davydenko, and Ferrer are all slated to play later on today.

Day 3 at the French

Although it’s been more than 25 years since Yannick Noah won Roland Garros for his country, the French have generally performed reasonably well. The two superpowers in tennis might boil down to France and Spain with Spain having fared a bit better than their Gaelic counterparts.

Gael Monfils had to be considered one of the most promising players to come out of France after, well, Richard Gasquet. The French love to put pressure on their favorites. In 2004, he won 3 of 4 junior Grand Slams. The only one missing from the list was the US Open which went to current world number 3, Andy Murray.

Monfils had a fantastic French Open run last year, making it all the way to the semis before he fell to Roger Federer, but injury has plagued the talented Frenchman. It was uncertain whether he’d play the French this year due to a knee injury. Monfils only played one major clay tournament (Monte Carlo) losing tamely to Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3, 6-1.

Nevertheless, he went out there to face American Bobby Reynolds. Reynolds is a solid player, currently ranked 83. He is one of several Americans that have played well but aren’t ready to carry the mantle of the best class of American tennis (that of Chang, Agassi, Courier, Sampras, and Martin). He, Robert Kendrick, Wayne Odesnik, Robby Ginepri, and Sam Querrey toil in the top 100 trying to break into the top 20 and respectability. On paper, Reynolds should have no chance against Monfils, but who knew if Monfils was healthy enough to beat Reynolds.

Indeed, he was. Monfils made easy work of the American: 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

The French did fairly well on this third day of Roland Garros. Tsonga beat fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. More surprisingly, Marc Giquel routined 27th seed Rainer Schuettler, 6-0, 6-0, 6-4. Giquel is ranked 46 while Schuettler is ranked 29, so the differences in ranking are negligible.

The top seed playing on day 3 was Novak Djokovic. If Murray had an easy match, Djokovic had an easier one. His opponent, Nicolas Lapentti, retired after a set and a half, down 6-3, 3-1.

The other top player of note, Juan Marin del Potro, also won handily beating Frenchman, Michael Llodra, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Americans again continued to perform poorly as two of the higher ranked Americans, James Blake and his buddy, Mardy Fish, both lost today. Blake lost to qualifier, 93rd ranked, 22 year old Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 7-6(6), 7-5, 6-2. After playing pretty well on clay in recent weeks, this has to be a disappointing loss. An Argentinian also beat Mardy Fish. Maximo Gonzalez (age 25, rank 71), beat Fish in 4 sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).

Argentinian players continued to do well elsewhere. Upstart Juan Monaco handled Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

In the battle of the senior tour wannabes, 31 year old Tommy Haas of Germany beat 35 year old Romanian, Andrei Pavel, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Local Aussie, Bernard Tomic, proved ineffective against German, Philipp Kohlschreiber, losing 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, had an easy match over Adrian Mannarino (age 20, rank 126) 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. The upset of the day has to go to fellow Spaniard and former number 1 player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat Ivan Ljubicic in five sets: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Ferrero’s ranking had slipped to 103 while Ljubicic has had one of his better clay court seasons leading up to the French. Perhaps even more surprising, Ljubicic leads the head-to-head, 3-1, though they haven’t played one another since 2005.

Matches of interest on Day 4. Can Robert Kendrick, one of two Americans (the other being Andy Roddick) left in the draw, make an impression against Gilles Simon? Simon needed five sets to beat American, Wayne Odesnik. Can he go 2 for 2 against another American?

Radek Stepanek plays Mathieu Montcourt of France. OK, maybe the match itself isn’t interesting, but Montcourt is being penalized for gambling a number of years ago to the tune of a few hundred dollars. Many feel the fine and suspension are too harsh for the crime.

Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal play tomorrow as the two top seeds on schedule for Wednesday play.