Monfils and Fognini in late night French Open finish
Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini will return to the court at Roland Garros today locked at 5-5 in the deciding fifth set after a bizarre decision to allow play to continue in conditions where a glow-in-the-dark tennis ball may have been handy.
Two games earlier, with scores tied at 4-4, players and officials had converged at the net to discuss the possibility of calling it a day, and playing out the remaining games of this tense encounter in daylight the following day.
It was a move clearly favoured by the Italian and his coach, but Monfils was clearly keen to finish the match in the gloom on Phillipe Chatrier Court. It was the Frenchman who won the argument, and Fognini received a penalty point for delaying play as he argued the point.
The decision to play on, however, almost became Monfils’ undoing as the 13th seed was forced to save three match points as he battled not just the murkiness on court, but problems with his left knee before play was finally halted at close to 10pm.
When play resumes on day five, Fognini will be serving at 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 5-5 and looking to close out the match after fighting his way back into it from a two set deficit.
By the time play was suspended on centre court, Andy Murray and Juan Ignatio Chela had already been off court for a considerable time, after their match on court one was halted with Murray leading the Argentinian 6-2, 3-3.
It may be about the latest finish to a day’s play we’re likely to see at Roland Garros, but it pales in comparison to the third round match between Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis at the Australian Open in 2008.
Hewitt, renowned for scrapping his way to victory in five set marathons, and Baghdatis were sent onto court to begin their match at 11.47pm and the Australian finally hit the winner that sealed the match against Baghdatis at 4.33am the following morning, in what, depending on your perspective, was either the latest or earliest finish to a match in Australian Open history.
Players and spectators alike might have been up long past their bedtimes as the match ground on into the morning, but at least everyone who could keep their eyes open for the duration had a clear view of the action in the floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
The same can’t be said of what happened in the match between Monfils and Fognini on centre court at Roland Garros yesterday.
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