French Open 2009

[Guest]

At the semi final stage, great draw for Nadal, bad draw for Federer. Before then, though, Nadal has it tougher.

In Nadal's section of the draw are Verdasco, who gave him such a difficult game in the Australian Open semis, and David Ferrer. It'll be a bit of a surprise if he meets Murray in the semis but he'd certainly prefer that to Djokovic.

Djokovic, who has been very impressive in recent weeks, is scheduled to play Federer in the semis. Could be a classic. Federer's section of the draw is pretty straightforward but Djokovic has got Del Potro and Tsonga in his quarter.

As for the women, for the second grand slam in a row, we have a top seed who has never won a grand slam title. Jankovic was hopeless in Melbourne - at least Safina was a finalist in Paris last year. Serena Williams, who has only won the French Open once, has been struggling with injuries since she won the Australian Open. Could be wide open tournament.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

The football's shite so I've switched over to the tennis and, bloody hell, Our Lleyton has come back from 2 sets down to beat Ivo Karlovic for the first time in his career.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Bit of trouble for Murray tonight when he was one set all, 5-1 down in the third before winning 6 games in a row and finishing it in 4.

Dinara Safina has won her first 2 matches 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Federer has just won the first set against Acasuso after saving 4 set points in the tie break.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Second set to an impressive Acasuso, 7-5.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

A lucky escape for Federer in the end. He was trailing 5-2 and set point down in the 4th when he saved himself with a fluked drop shot.

Poor Jelena Dokic. She comfortably won the first set against 4th seed Elena Dementieva but had to retire injured in the second.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Dementieva has gone out to an Australian after her lucky win over Dokic - St Kilda fan Sam Stosur has beaten her.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

So much for me talking up Djokovic - beaten in straight sets by Kohlschreiber.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Nadal has lost a set for the first time since the 2007 final - to Robin Soderling, 6-2.

[Tony C]

French Open 2009

Wonderful win by Soderling - although it won't go down too well in the men's locker room if rumours about Soderling's unpopularity are true. I seem to recall he has a bit of 'previous' with Nadal but I can't recall the incident in detail.

I would never have thought the way to beat Nadal on clay would be to slug it out with him at the baseline but that's what Soderling did - and brilliantly.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

So Federer is just 4 wins and 6 days away from being "officially" the greatest player ever. No Djokovic, no Nadal - surely he can't blow it from here? But that bloke Murray is looking surprisingly good.

[Max Payne]

French Open 2009

Not a snowball's in heck, MA. I'm pretty sure Gingerpubes will blow up before he gets to lose to Fed.

[San Bernardhinault]

French Open 2009

Now Federer's 2 set down to Haas. Very odd.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

We could have a Quarter Final line up without any players who've won a grand slam title before.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Haas had a breakpoint midway through the third set, didn't take it and has now completely caved in.

[Kid A]

French Open 2009

Fed's best chance so far to win the French. Coming thru v Haas from 2 sets down must fill him with confidence.

Murray v Gonzalez due to start soon, could be a v good match.

[Kid A]

French Open 2009

Soderling has thumped Davydenko in straight sets & is in the SF, to play the winner of Murray v Gonzalez. Where has this form come from? He's never looked this good before.

[Gangster Octopus]

French Open 2009

Maybe the British journos will now spot that it's not only Murray who's been given heart with Nadal's demise...

[ale]

French Open 2009

Gonzalez certainly has...hes just won the third set 6-0 to go 2-1 ahead..

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

French Open 2009

Murray minced.

He had the better of many of the long points of that match, as well, and was doing well to keep it away from Gonzalez' forehand. Then he either forgot, or was too tired, to do so for certain periods, and lost successive games on the trot.

I hope Federer goes on to win this now, we can all start arguing about if he is genuinely the greatest of all time in the Open era.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

I hope Federer goes on to win this now, we can all start arguing about if he is genuinely the greatest of all time in the Open era.

If Federer wins the French, it won't start the argument, it'll end it.

[Kid A]

French Open 2009

Gonzalez and Soderling were both excellent, if they bring that form to their SF it could be a classic match.

Why was Murray wearing all black in such hot conditions?

[manandvans]

French Open 2009

Kid A wrote:

Why was Murray wearing all black in such hot conditions?

That was my first thought when I first saw the coverage.
Endorsement contracts I would think.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

French Open 2009

Federer back to his imposing best today, after his stutter against Haas. Two matches away (against opponents ranked far beneath him) from a place among the immortals.

It occurred to me only this morning, though, that this year we could see both Federer and Nadal achieve a Career Grand Slam, if Roger wins here and Nadal wins at the US Open. As only Agassi, before them, has achieved that in the last 30 years, it would be pretty incredible for two players to do so in the space of 4 months.

[Guest]

French Open 2009

Serena takes her defeat badly and talks like a very annoying teenager as well:

"I think I lost because of me and not because of anything she did," said a demoralised Williams afterwards.

"In the third set I had an opportunity but I was a bit tight. I basically handed it to her. It was like: 'Here, do you want it? Cos I don't.' And she was like: 'OK.'"