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Halep into second round, as Wozniacki makes third

  • Posted: May 30, 2018
French Open 2018
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 27 May-10 June
Coverage: Daily live radio and text commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and app.

World number one Simona Halep began her bid for a first Grand Slam title with a gutsy fightback in her rain-delayed French Open first-round match.

Halep, last year’s runner-up, lost the first set before recovering to win 2-6 6-1 6-1 against American Alison Riske.

Australian Open champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the third round with a 6-1 6-0 win over Spain’s Georgina Garcia Perez.

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina and eighth seed Petra Kvitova also went through.

Ukraine’s Svitolina reached the last 32 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova while Czech star Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, beat Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-0 6-4.

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  • Lucky loser’s road trip comes to an end
  • Live scores, schedule and results

Serena Williams, meanwhile, wore her ‘Black Panther’ catsuit again as she teamed up with sister Venus to beat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato 4-6 6-4 6-1 in the women’s doubles first round.

The 36-year-old American first wore the outfit, inspired by the Black Panther movie blockbuster, during her opening singles win on Tuesday.

Halep overcomes slow start

Two-time French Open finalist Halep has spent much of the past seven months as the world’s leading female player, despite never transferring her consistency on tour into lifting one of tennis’ most prestigious prizes.

Halep lost to unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the Roland Garros final last year, one of six defeats in a showpiece over the past year.

But reaching a second final in Paris looked a long way off as she made a woeful start in a match which originally supposed to be played on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Romanian hit 16 unforced errors in a opening set, but then won nine of the next 10 games to take control.

Riske, who is Johanna Konta’s doubles partner, stemmed the tide by claiming the fourth game of the final set, but only managed to win another 12 points in a final set which Halep won in 28 minutes.

Halep put her sluggish start down to pre-match nerves, which she said were not caused by the extra pressure of finally landing her first major prize.

“I didn’t feel the pressure, because I know that every match is tough at this tournament, so I don’t expect anything,” she said.

“I think the nerves are really good. It means that you care about what you are doing and your desire is really big.”

Halep will face Riske’s compatriot Taylor Townsend in the second round.

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Relief For Zverev, Survives A Scare In Paris

  • Posted: May 30, 2018

Relief For Zverev, Survives A Scare In Paris

May302018

German star frustrated, but lives to fight another day

Alexander Zverev, one of the best performers on clay courts this year, survived a scare on Wednesday at Roland Garros.

In a match of momentum shifts, the second-seeded German did not play his best tennis in the second round, but recovered from a set and 1-3 deficit to work his way past Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in three hours and 24 minutes.

Zverev struck 42 winners, but committed 53 unforced errors and was broken five times to equal his best performance in the French capital (2014). He has now won 18 of his past 20 matches and is one victory away from 150 career wins (149-78).

The 21-year-old will next prepare to face Bosnia and Herzegovina’s No. 26 seed Damir Dzumhur on Friday. Dzumhur fought back from a 2-4 deficit in the fifth set to beat Radu Albot of Moldova 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 1-6, 7-5 in three hours and 47 minutes.

Lajovic barely put a foot wrong in the opener, hitting seven winners and clinching all four of his net points. He bounced back from 0/40 at 5-2, then broke Zverev en route to a 3-1 lead in the second set.

But Zverev began to find his rhythm, particularly on his double-handed backhand, and capitalised on mental fatigue from Lajovic. Zverev let out a celebratory scream upon securing the set – courtesy of a Lajovic groundstroke error.

Lajovic regrouped impressively, and, after an early exchange of breaks, won four out of five games from 2-3 to seize control. Incredibly, Zverev triggered back into life and from 1-1 in the fourth set, the German won the next nine games for a 4-0 lead in the decider.

Zverev has a 32-8 match record on the year, including two successive titles – the BMW Open by FWU (d. Kohlschreiber) and his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Thiem). He also finished as runner-up during the European clay-court swing at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Nadal).

His best showing in 11 previous Grand Slam championship appearances is a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon in 2017.

Lajovic, who beat Jiri Vesely in the first round, recently advanced to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Mutua Madrid Open, which included victories over Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin del Potro.

Did You Know?
Alexander Zverev made his Grand Slam championship debut at Wimbledon in 2015. With a 16-11 overall match record at the majors, his best performance came last year at S.W.19 when he fell to Milos Raonic in the fourth round.

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It's been amazing – lucky loser's family road trip comes to an end

  • Posted: May 30, 2018
French Open 2018
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 27 May-10 June
Coverage: Daily live radio and text commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and app.

Lucky loser Marco Trungelliti hopes his drive home will have “less stress” than the 10-hour dash he made on Sunday to reach the French Open.

The Argentine, 27, drove from Barcelona to Paris with his grandmother, mother and brother to earn a first-round spot.

He beat Bernard Tomic on Monday, only to lose in straight sets against Italy’s Marco Cecchinato on Wednesday.

“It’s been a different experience with all the media,” he said. “But I enjoyed it. I’ve never been here before.”

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Trungelliti – and his 89-year-old grandmother Daphne – became the centre of attention at Roland Garros after his wife posted pictures of them, along with his mother Susanna and brother Andre, travelling and singing during their journey to the French capital.

He then described after his four-set win over Tomic that he had to tell his grandma to get out of the shower so they could leave his home in Barcelona.

The world number 190 lost in Roland Garros qualifying last week, but returned in a race to sign in as a lucky loser after Australian Nick Kyrgios pulled out with injury.

Now he will drive back to the Spanish city in a few days’ time – having earned £69,000 from his trip to Paris.

“It has been amazing because I won on Monday, if I’d come here and lost it would have been tough mentally,” he added.

“But the media attention didn’t have an impact on my second match – I just didn’t play good tennis.”

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French Open 2018: Novak Djokovic beats Jaume Munar to reach third round

  • Posted: May 30, 2018
French Open 2018
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 27 May-10 June
Coverage: Daily live radio and text commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and app.

Novak Djokovic secured his place in the third round of the French Open with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4 win over Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar.

The former world number one, 31, was given a stern workout by 21-year-old Munar despite victory in straight sets.

Djokovic, seeded 20th at Roland Garros, squandered a 5-2 lead in the first set but came through a tie-break.

Munar did not give the Serb any respite in the next two sets although Djokovic’s superiority eventually told.

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Djokovic slowly regaining confidence

Djokovic has struggled to rediscover his best form following a return to the court after elbow surgery in January.

This year he has twice lost to players ranked outside the world’s top 100 in ATP tournaments and has not won a Grand Slam since the 2016 French Open.

Munar, ranked 155th in the world, fought back in the first set but the more experienced Djokovic kept his composure to emphatically close out the tie-break 7-1.

Djokovic, a 12-time Grand Slam champion, said his confidence had been knocked since his return and was a little scrappy in the second set.

However, he showed flashes of his best in an entertaining final set to see off a spirited effort from Munar in two hours and 19 minutes.

Djokovic will face 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round after the Spaniard’s 6-4 7-5 6-3 win over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.

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Wednesday Preview: Rafa Protégé Munar Faces Djokovic

  • Posted: May 30, 2018

Wednesday Preview: Rafa Protégé Munar Faces Djokovic

May302018

Second seed Zverev, French No. 1 Pouille also in action on Wednesday

Is #NextGenATP’s Jaume Munar the most likely man to lead Spanish tennis into the 2020s and become the nation’s greatest hope when Rafael Nadal eventually steps aside (hopefully many years from now)? Maybe. One thing we do know: Munar will try to channel his best Rafa impersonation against Nadal’s great rival, Novak Djokovic, Wednesday at Roland Garros as second-round action begins.

Munar earned his first Grand Slam victory on Monday, coming back from two sets down to beat Spanish tennis icon David Ferrer. The 21-year-old Barcelona resident called it “the most important victory” of his career. 

Next for Munar: 2016 champion Djokovic. Welcome to the big league, Jaume.

You May Also Like: Munar: ‘After Beating Ferrer, I Can Safely Say I Am A Pro Player’

Djokovic has looked much more like his old self during the past three weeks, making his first quarter-final and semi-final of the year at the Internazional BNL d’Italia in Rome earlier this month. He routed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil on Monday to kick off his Paris stay. Is Djokovic back for good? How he shapes up against Munar, second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, will be a telling indicator.

Eighth seed David Goffin and 19-year-old Frenchmen Corentin Moutet follow Djokovic-Munar in another battle of established pro against #NextGenATP player. Goffin made coming back from two sets down look easy on Sunday as he beat Robin Haase 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. He’ll hope for less drama against Moutet, another contender for the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan.

See Who’s Leading The ATP Race To Milan

On Court Philippe-Chatrier, a pair of Frenchmen will look to please the home crowd and reach the third round. Benoit Paire brings a 2-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against 19th seed Kei Nishikori. The 29-year-old Paire is 0-2 against Nishikori on clay, including a 2013 third-round match at Roland Garros. But don’t underestimate the power of a home crowd behind a player with loads of potential.

Wrapping up play on Court Philippe-Chatrier will be top Frenchman Lucas Pouille and Brit Cameron Norrie, who cracked the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings at No. 85 this week. Pouille eased past 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

It’s been 35 years since France’s Yannick Noah won Roland Garros in 1983. No other Frenchman has matched the feat – or won another Grand Slam title – in the Open Era.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will face a confident Dusan Lajovic of Serbia on Court 1. Lajovic made his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final in Madrid, but Zverev has also enjoyed quite the clay-court season as well. The 21-year-old has won two titles – Munich and Madrid – and reached another Masters 1000 final in Rome (l. to Nadal).

Read More: Coach Moya’s Takeaways From Nadal’s Win

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov has no titles to date on the clay – or at all this year. But it only takes one match to grab momentum. The Bulgarian, who reached the semi-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last month, faces Jared Donaldson of the U.S.

In one of the more intriguing matchups, two-time semi-finalist Dominic Thiem meets a player who beat him on clay just last month. #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas swept Thiem 6-3, 6-2 en route to his maiden ATP World Tour final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

But after that, Thiem beat Nadal en route to his second Masters 1000 final (Madrid) and won his 10th ATP World Tour title in Lyon.

In other matches worth keeping an eye on, 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut will face Colombian Santiago Giraldo; 30th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain meets Guido Andreozzi of Argentina; Pablo Carreno Busta, 10th seed, will try to avoid an upset against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis; 26th seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina plays Moldova’s Radu Albot; and Frenchman Gilles Simon will try to beat Sam Querrey of the U.S. for the fifth time (Simon leads FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-3).

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