Season II Roland Garros

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Men's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Five) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• 24th seed Heath Davis will head into a do-or-die third round clash with tenth seed Radivoj Daneu this Friday after booking a spot in the final 32 with a straight sets win over Thailand's Atthaphol Sae-ul. Sae-ul was non-existent outside of the second set as the West CWLander tore him apart in a far cry for the Thai player's first round win. Davis dropped just four games - all in the second set - as he overpowered Sae-ul on the unseeded Asian player's least favourite surface; charging through to the third round 6-0, 6-4, 6-0. He meets Season I quarter finalist Daneu who cruised past Anvar Juraev of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-0, 7-6(3).

• In section 7, eighth seed Jefferson Drake continued his clean start to the fortnight with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over West CWLand qualifier David Briggs. The Nice champion was met by a resilient display from Briggs in the second and third sets, but it was clear that he had way too much power for his opponent as he convincingly advanced to the third round. It was a tough baptism for Briggs, but he didn't disgrace himself with a few highlights he can show the grand kids. Drake now meets Finland's Lari Färkkilä who yet again prevailed in five set from one set to two down to oust 25th seed Kim Vollan 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

• The other third round match in that section will pit fourteenth seed Jojo Mustard against unseeded Easterner Spas Delev in another Grand Slam third round match. Mustard was far too good for the Ukraine's Viktor Vuriak as he survived a tight start to win in straight sets. Vuriak's swinging left arm style caused Mustard some trouble early doors, but the fourteenth seed quickly recovered to take the first set in a tiebreaker 7-3. From there, Vuriak struggled with Mustard's consistency and accuracy as he continued to find the lines with the forehand down the line. It was enough for him to earn a 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-3 victory and a third round place on Friday.

• His opponent, Delev, will be far more tired after a marathon five-set victory over Petr Brožík. Down two-sets to one and fresh off a third set flogging, Brožík looked down and out at a break down before he surged back to send the match to a fifth set. The fifth lasted nearly two hours and was ridden with errors and missed opportunities as Delev wasted four match points at 6-5, 7-6 and 9-8. With both players broken numerous times, it left Sven Oxenstierna tweeting things like "lol is this the wta tour?" before Delev finally got the breakthrough by holding serve to complete a gutsy 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 win.

• While Nilikar Midid gave up a two-sets to love lead to lose to Johan Ortiz, the choke of the day came on Court Phillipe Chatrier as 31st seed Pierre L'Estrange did battle with East CWLand's Jarkko Maxum. After taking the first two sets, the World No. 40 Maxum had a 5-3 lead and a match point to set up a third round clash with Daniel Páez Blanco. While L'Estrange saved that to the delight of the French crowd, no one could have expected what was building as the 31st seed claimed the third set 7-5 in a tiebreaker. After a sluggish start, the enigmatic L'Estrange started to pick up the pace and began drawing Maxum into making bad errors off both wings to cough up two fourth set service breaks. That leveled the match at a set apiece, but Maxum wasn't done yet as he claimed a break of serve early in the second against the run of play as L'Estrange found the tape and the ball bobbled out wide. Despite the scare, he broke back to love immediately and from there the result was never in doubt - the World No. 38 bringing up three match points and converting his first to secure a gutsy 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4 win. Needless to say, the French crowd lost their **** while Maxum could be heard over the television monitor telling those "screamy French ****s" to "go and lose another war." His second round prize money might be a little lighter once the FFT have their say.

• Seeded players out: Kim Vollan.

[Mister Wright]

Very pleased for Mustard to get through to the 3rd round. Will be looking to get revenge on Delev after he knocked Mustard out in the Australian Open (last season I think).

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Men's Doubles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Five) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Doubles pairing Scotland Rivers and Yordan Zakov proved too good for Denis Isaev and Haiku Morkel in an impressive first round showing. Zakov, a Grand Slam doubles quarter finalist in his own right, provided great spark at the net and also some good power from the baseline as he and Rivers combined well after a slow start. The Belarusian-Norwegian duo struggled for rhythm after being pantsed in the first set tiebreaker as Rivers and Zakov charged into the second round 7-6(0), 6-2. They meet eighth seeds Ion Andueza and Sanchez Emelio after they knocked out Season I finalist Raz Teper and his makeshift partner Hani Alberman.

• Also through were Björn Donaldson and Brett Read as they survived a puzzling contest with Davis Kennedy and Shaun Poole. The North Americans seemed to give up mid way through a first set they dropped 1-6, before firing back their own salvo to take the second 6-1 and send the match to a deciding third inside three quarters of an hour. There it was tighter early, before the Jamaican Poole had his service broken thanks to a nifty backhand lob from the Swede that cleared both of his opponents up at the net. It was enough for the Donaldson/Read pairing to hold on for a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 win and a second round meeting with third seeds Hayden and Ross Onwye who beat JJ Berthier and Abel Bonnin 6-0, 7-5.

• Seeded players out: None.

[SirBloody Idiot]

ftr, I've simmed the third round matches for the top half. itstl

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Wow. Liking that result over Sae-Ul. I must have a great bagels inflicted to bagles conceded percentage! Good to see Mustard safely through as well.

Disappointed for Maxum, to say the least.

[Johnners]

Win is a win (y) Looking forward to getting one up over Mustard.

[morgieb]

Win in doubles (Y).

[vic_orthdox]

Woah, I've never played doubles before...

[morgieb]

What's up with Hungarians being so good in this game? In the Ox's quarter there's 3 still standing, all in the same section ffs.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Not sure actually. When I did the original randomisation to determine rankings in 2008 (2008! ****!), those three were actually in the top 20!

[SirBloody Idiot]

Oh boy.

Roland Garros II - Men's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Thursday (Day Six) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Season I finalist Sven Oxenstierna is out. Those seven words were enough to put the tennis world into a state of shock as the World No. 4 was bundled out in four sets by 27th seed Sanchez Emelio. Less than a month ago, Oxenstierna trounced Emelio 6-2, 6-1 in the third round of Monte Carlo; but he faced a far more determined opponent here in Paris with Emelio coming off back-to-back straight sets victories. While many noted that those victories had come against substandard opposition, it was clear that Emelio was not one of those people as he took the first set off Oxenstierna with some consistent baseline tennis. Oxenstierna was continually frustrated by Emelio's deep ball-striking that left him camped on the baseline against a player in his element, and his attempts to take the ascendancy hurt him as he was passed at the net by a cool cross-court backhand from Emelio to fall a break behind in the second set. There was always a feeling of inevitability as Oxenstierna broke back immediately to level the scores at 3-3, but just four games later he was stunned into submission as Emelio played an extremely brave drop shot to bring up three set points on the Oxenstierna serve. The World No. 4 needed a big first serve and didn't get it; Emelio taking advantage of a nothing second serve to crack a flat winner off the forehand side to seal the second set and to move to the cusp of an extraordinary victory.

But Oxenstierna wasn't done yet as he got the jump on Emelio in the third and this time held on as his usual swagger started to return as he pushed to the net more often for a 5/6 result. Taking the set 6-2, he looked like he could be another player to stage a miraculous recovery. But the gravity of that task against a player of Emelio's class made itself immediately apparent in the fourth set as he was broken in the second game to give Emelio the 2-0 lead. The 27th seed knew all he had to do was to hold serve four more times, but he gave Oxenstierna a glimmer of hope when serving for the match at 5-3 as the World No. 4 got the set back on the service at the last possible opportunity.

It was all for nought. A mistimed forehand caught the frame of Oxenstierna's racquet to give the Spanish No. 2 two match points. He needed just one - after an extended rally the Season I finalist framed a backhand out of picture to hand Sanchez Emelio a monumental 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory and perhaps the biggest upset of the clay season.

• There was better news for West CWLand fans as Brett Read advanced to the fourth round in his second five-setter of the week; picking up his second win over Miroslav Brdar in as many weeks to set up a final 16 showdown with Emelio. Ranked outside the top 100 due to the amount of tournaments he's played, Read started like a shot to take a 4-1 lead over the sixteenth seed. While Brdar fought back, Read still took the all-important first set to give him a shot of confidence. Or so you'd think; Brdar dominated the second set with some whipping forehands from deep in the court as he continually overpowered Read whose grafting style relies on a lot of errors from his opponent. Despite the second set result, it is the perfect style against the lanky Croat who struggles for consistency; an issue shown in the third as he wilted to a 2-6 result before rebounding in the fourth 6-3 to take the match to a decider. Both men had taken their first round matches thanks to comfortable fifth sets, and it was a nervous start from both as they gave up a service break each. But the first to crack outright was the sixteenth seed as the relentless returning of Read began to take its toll in a nineteen minute fifth game of the set to hand Read a 3-2 lead. That was something he never gave Brdar the opportunity to get back as he advanced to the fourth round with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win.

• Scotland Rivers, meanwhile, surrendered a useful start to bow out in four to eighteenth seed Diego Hurtado. In a tough first set, it was the unseeded Westerner who claimed the early ascendancy as he fought back from 3-5 down to take the set in a tiebreaker (albeit blowing three set points in the process). Despite the shaky start, Hurtado started to come into his own and show his full fitness with a ground game that Rivers struggled to deal with. It was a recurring issue right throughout the next three sets as Hurtado created a torrent of chances on the Rivers serve and showed off his blistering forehand to the tune of twenty third set winners. Rivers, meanwhile, couldn't match Hurtado's power while camped on his back foot and ultimately hit too many short shots to Hurtado's forehand side as the Colombian advanced to the fourth round 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. Hurtado meets unseeded local Jean-Christophe Genghini who completed a trio of top five upsets on Court Phillipe Chatrier with an impressive 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over an uninspiring fifth seed Darcy Cowan.

• A trio of top five upsets? World No. 1 Jason Hall's chances of a maiden French Open crown will have to wait another year as he was ousted in straight sets by an extremely impressive Javier Villaneuva. The young Spaniard, who struggled through his first two matches in five sets, looked full of youthful freshness as he bounded around the court to crush Hall's hopes. The American's chances looked great early as he took a 5-2 lead before Villaneuva's tactic of shooting for the lines paid off as he claimed five games on the trot to take the set 7-5. Hall could never really recover from that start and despite a brief third set fightback he ultimately bowed out to a shocking 5-7, 3-6, 5-7 defeat to the World No. 50.

• Seeded players out: Miroslav Brdar; Darcy Cowan; Jason Hall; Danijel Micic; Sven Oxenstierna; Zoltán Varga.

---

That gives us top half fourth round matches of:

Villaneuva/Altman
Hurtado/Genghini
Emelio/Read
Bachunelli/Boros

Yep, we're getting a finalist from there. fmd this is anyone's game.

[Johnners]

Haha wtf

[ripper868]

****ing massive Choke by Maxum
EDIT: Go the Read!

[morgieb]

Haha Ox and Hall

Bring it on ****s!

[benchmark00]

Any relation to Roland Rocchiccioli?