ROLAND GARROS, DAY 5: A couple of days ago, a bunch of the US women went down and a number of people shook their head. Are the Americans would be out very soon? Yes, some disappeared, by three of the top competitors are still there and they should be, given that one of them have grabbed 18 Grand Slams, and two of the youngsters have made it to the semifinals at the majors.
The US women had a terrific day with Madison Keys crushed Belinda Bencic 6-0 6-3 , Sloane Stephens beat up Heather Watson 6-2 6-4 and Irina Falconi (who has not made it to a second week yet but she has a shot) clapped her hands and beat Sesil Karatantcheva 3-6 6-1 6-2. Oh and let’s not forger that No. 1 Serena Williams overcame Anna-Lena Friedsam 5-7 6-3 6-3 in a difficult contest. Guess who she will play next? Victoria Azarenka, who beat Lucie Hradecka 6-2 6-3. That will be extremely close, just like in Madrid that the American won 7-6 in the third. “There is no question you have to come up with your A game and play well,” Azarenka said. And how.
Stephens says that she finally playing well again: “Probably the best red clay you’ll ever play on in your whole life. I think here it’s easy to slide. It’s easy to get around. I mean, it’s everything you would dream of if you had to play on a clay court.”
Keys say that it’s slower, perhaps because it isn’t very warm.
“They’re definitely very heavy. It’s not only the court where it doesn’t bounce as much and things like that, but the balls are definitely a lot heavier than they were the last couple weeks.”
Do you like marathons? In 2011, Francesco Schiavone beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 1-6 16-14 at the Australian Open in 4 hours 44 minutes. This time in Paris on Thursday Schiavone inched past Kuznetsova 6-7(11) 7-5 10-8 in 3 hours, 49 minutes. It could happen again, sometime in the road.
“She is amazing, and every time I play against her I say, Oh, my God, now what can happen? “ Schiavone said.
It was a cool in the morning so props for hanging around, including Andrea Petkovic over Lourdes Dominguez Lino 4-6 6-4 6-4, and Petra Kvitova edged Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2
Julia Goerges beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 7-6(4), no surprised that the German has troubled her on the clay years ago. But once again the former No. 1 couldn’t find a way to improve a great deal on the clay.
“Obviously she has given me trouble in the past and she gave me trouble again today,” she said. “So that kind of sucks. Would have liked to have been through to the next round, but I’m not… I think especially on clay she has a way to make me feel like I’m not playing very well. And then, I was really trying to do better this time than I have done in the past against her on clay, so it didn’t work. Obviously I prefer hard courts, and my game against her matches better on hard courts or on grass I think would be a better matchup for me. I had like a million chances, especially in the first set.”
Will Wozniacki be comfortable at Wimbledon? She has not performed very well on the grass at Wimbledon either. She needs to change it up.
THE MEN
The American Jack Sock played a very tough matches and he overcame Pablo Carreno 6-7(2) 7-6(4) 6-1 7-6(4). Since the fall, he has made tremendous strides. He will face the 18-year-old Borna Coric who bested Tommy Robredo 7-5 3-6 6-2 4-6 6-4. Both of the youngsters will blast away.
The Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy took out John Isner 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-3, which was somewhat surprising given that the American looked goo on clay in the past two months and he was enthusiastic at Paris, but Chardy was on fire and Isner was decent, but not wonderfully. “ I wish I was still here,” No. 16 Isner said. “It’s one of the biggest tournaments of the year. Going out early sucks.”
Bernard Tomic was up 5-2 in the fifth and it appeared that he was more consistent, but then he backed up. His 19 year old other Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Tomic 3-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 8-6 and now he gets to face Novak Djokovic, who beat Gilles Muller 6-1 6-4 6-4. Kokkinakis has said that he can’t wait to play the No. 1 so even if he’s a little tired be will be enthusiastic.
Rafa Nadal is cruising along, crushing Nicolas Almagro 6-4 6-3 6-1…Goof for the US Open champ who appears to be health again, when Marin Cilic beat Andrea Arnaboldi 7-6(3) 6-1 6-1…Now her comes another cracker, when another Aussie, the fiery Nick Kyrgios will play Andy Murray. Phillip Chatrier please.
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