Got underway Sunday morning. Serena the big favorite on the women's side. Nadal and Djokovic basically co-favorites on the men's side. So the same as usual, in other words.
Some retirements today. Almagro is very good on clay, so he was a huge favorite vs. Sock, but retired in the first set (due to a foot injury). Haas retired in the first set, despite leading 5-2. He was a 1/11 favorite. Martic and the other Radwanska retired on the women's side. Li Na lost as a 1/17 favorite to Mladenovic. She was the favorite to meet Serena in the finals. Wozniacki also lost in the first round. Wawrinka lost yesterday as a huge favorite to Garcia-Lopez. I think his top 4 ATP ranking will be short-lived.
Stan Wawrinka and Li Na represented the first time Aussie Open champs lost in the 1st round at Roland Garros. Nole looking in beast mode. Has Rafa's physically demanding style of play starting to take its toll (however slight)? Whatever, they'll have to kill him before he'll give in to Djoko…..there's no quit in Nadal; killer competitor. Fed looked good and was in cruise control in his first match On the women's side, besides Serena (who may end up playing sister Venus in the 3rd round), Ana Ivanovic's been looking good of late…and of course she's a cutie.
Her third time losing in the first round as a highly ranked player. 2012 US Open: 8th seed, lost 6-2 6-2 to Begu 2012 Wimbledon: 7th seed, lost in 3 sets to Paszek This time she wasn't that big a favorite, though, because she drew Yanina Wickmayer, a very tough first round opponent. Wickmayer has been ranked in the top 50 for the last few years, IIRC. Wozniacki opened at only -295 at Pinnacle, before being bet up to a -395 closing line. Ouch for bettors on that match.
Ivo Karlovic with a nice straight set upset of 11th seeded Grigor Dimitrov (Maria Shriekapova's squeeze). Dimitrov supposedly hinted that he's dealing with some "personal issues" but even if that's the case that's not the reason he lost. Ivo out played him, period. Even at his age (35) Ivo's balling right now and is coming off a finals appearance in Dusseldorf last week, and besides the 6'10" Ivo serving lights out (only lost 7 first serve points), his forehand was rock solid and he won more than his share of rallies as well. While his serve's even bigger on grass, this win still reminded me of his upset win over Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2003. Ivo, one of the real good guys - well played Dr. Ivo!… muahahahahahaa….
Serena gone. Venus gone. Did not see that happening. Youhnzy lost too. I think that are the only upsets so far today
Serena was a 1/25 favorite and she only won 4 games. Wow. Larsson upset Pennetta as well. What a ridiculous tournament. Sharapova should now be the favorite to win the women's side.
No Americans left after Berdych beat Isner. Berdych now getting dominated by Gulbis. Nadal plays Ferrer yet again tomorrow. Seems like they wind up playing in a ton of majors (and Nadal has only lost one of those matches), where they are placed in the same quarter.
Yeah it seems Nadal always ends up with Ferrer while Murray/Djokovic/Federer ended up getting the short end of the stick. Not to look down on Ferrer, but going through 2/3 of Djokovic/Federer/Murray is more difficult than someone else and Ferrer
Ferrer has always been the weak link, because he doesn't have the weapons to be a real threat to the top guns.
Ferrer looks like he is giving it his all this set. The announcers were mentioning if Ferrer can get a couple sets, the 5th set might take place tomorrow, so he can go all out again. Less pacing and it kind of neutralizes Nadal's endurance and power later in matches
strange tennis today on the men's side Nadal 6-0 6-1 final two sets Murray won a 6-1 and a 6-0, Monfils won a 6-1 Surprise on the women's side, as Errani could only take 4 games off Petkovic.
Djokovic won the first two sets, dropped the 3rd to Gulbis and lost his break over Gulbis early in the 4th. Djokovic looks annoyed, like he used to look before he dominated tennis for that year. Letting so many things he cannot control bother him. This is good for him though. Playing Nadal is going to be 100x worse than Gulbis
Djokovic in 4. I don't think Murray can beat Nadal playing his counterpunch style. Andy will need to be more aggressive and taking chances. Got to put Nadal on his heels on clay
