Review Day 4 French Open 2010
There were remarkable scenes and some great action on Day 4 of the French Open, 2010 at the scenic Roland Garros. A number of key matches were delayed due to rain and then suspended due to darkness. After three days of sun and high temperatures, Wednesday's breezes reached 15 mph and the showers disrupted the schedule. The atmospheric changes caused the clay to behave differently, slowing the surface. Some matches were postponed, and four in men's singles were stopped because of darkness. These matches involved World number four Andy Murray, World number 13 Gael Monfils, World number 17 John Isner and World number 25 Marcos Baghdatis.
Some of the world’s renowned players took to the court only yesterday with the likes World No 1 Roger Federer, Robin Soderling, Jo-Willy Tsonga, and Andy Murray coming into action in France.
Defending Champion Roger Federer had to face two rain breaks to reach the third round of the French Open on Wednesday. Federer played against Colombian left-hander Alejandro Falla, who is chasing a record 17th Grand Slam title. In the first set, Federer wasn’t in full form and was plagued by 21 unforced errors. He struggled throughout the opening set and then went on to save five break points to win the match with a score of 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-4. He powered through into the next round without dropping a set. "A player like Falla needed the first set to have a chance of winning," said Federer. The World no 1 will now face German qualifier Julian Reister in Round Three.
Last year's runner-up, fifth seed Robin Soderling took just 71 super-charged minutes to book his place in the round three of the French Open. He crushed the hapless American Taylor Dent 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, in three straight sets. In the next round, he will face Spain's Albert Montanez.
"I didn't expect to win so easily. I can't remember playing such a short match, but you have to keep your focus because a match can change very quickly “said the 25-year-old Swede.
Jo-Willy Tsonga, a French professional tennis player sleighed young German star Daniel Brands on the Philippe Chartier court with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-5. This was a tough encounter.
Continuing the trend of great matches, Britain’s Andy Murray had to fight all the way to beat Italian player Potito Starace 6-3 2-6 7-5 6-4. He has safely made it to the third round of the French open.
Gael Monfils looked in trouble in his encounter against Fabio Fognini before the match was suspended with the match tied at 5-5 in the fifth set.
Let's take a look at the ladies Tennis side now. In the second round of Women’s Singles French Open, we only saw one mini-upset when World number 24 Safarova was defeated by Australia’s Jelena Dokic.
Other than that, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Flavia Pennetta, Aravane Rezai and Nadia Petrova all won rather easily.
Third ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark went through with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Italy's Tathiana Garbin.
Women's world number two and second seed Venus Williams was no different as she progressed in fine style to the third round. She looked to be in solid form as she put away Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja in straight sets with 6-2, 6-4. She will be facing 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova, who made the semi-finals of the 2009 French Open.
The 24-year-old Kuznetsova saved four match points before defeating Germany's world number 41 Andrea Petkovic.
"I just thought that there was nowhere else I wanted to be at that time than in the tournament," said Kusnetsova. She now faces compatriot Maria Kirilenko in the Third round.
There is loads of action slated for tomorrow (because of all of the suspended matches). Players like Justine Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic, Henin and Fernando Verdasco will be seen on the clay on day five of the tournament. It should make the day more entertaining.
Most of the players who were expected to move to round 3 have done so. The game becomes tough as the players keep on filtering out, and the best stays till the end. With the victory, there were also some surprising and shocking defeats as well. Now let us see who keep the winning streak going and get to the pre-quarterfinals.
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