Season II Roland Garros

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Boys' Singles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Eleven) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Unseeded Westerner Morgan Burridge is into the quarter finals of the juniors in Paris after a straightforward win over Sebastian Gasgoine. Gasgoine had impressed this week with a couple of fine wins, but that form was nowhere to be seen as Burridge proved too good in a 6-0, 6-2 win. The youngster has produced some good tennis this week, but today was the first time he didn't rely on chasing down balls and mistakes from his opponents. He'll put that form to the test in the quarters against thirteenth seed Dominic Viens who beat West CWLand's Koal Kao in three sets 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1.

• There was no winning feeling for fifteenth seed Jay Ono as he fell to third seed Stepan Ivanov. The East CWLander was always going to struggle against the Bulgarian who grew up on clay and has been touted as a future start on the PTA tour. The first set was close until Ivanov earned a decisive late break of service, and continued on into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

• Finally top seed Marcuss Deane will compete in tomorrow's quarter finals after ousting sixteenth seed Tom Eiffel in straight sets. The German was unable to recover from a tough second round clash yesterday, and was no match whatsoever for Deane's power as the highest ranked junior notched up a 6-2, 6-4 win. His ominous form will be tested tomorrow, though, as he plays fifth seeded Swede Marcus Lindberg - the player he beat in the final of the junior draw in Australia earlier in the year. Lindberg ousted unseeded Fin Pontus Heiskanen 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

• Seeded players out: Tom Eiffel; Jay Ono.

Roland Garros II - Boys' Doubles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (Day Eleven) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• While it was a good day in the singles for Morgan Burridge, he and Swiss partner Cedric Petite were beaten in straight sets by seventh seeds Stepan Ivanov and Yuri Shankov of Bulgaria. In an entertaining contest as far as junior doubles competition goes, Burridge and Petite started well to take an early break but dropped the first set 5-7. The second set was one-sided as the seventh seeds advanced to the quarters 7-5, 6-1.

• The last CWLand team was also beaten in second round action as fifth seeds Marcuss Deane and Koal Kao fell to unseeded locals Christian Richard and Marcelo Rojelli. In an odd encounter, Deane and Kao were very average in all but the second set and ate a 1-6, 6-4, 2-6 defeat.

• Seeded players out: Marcuss Deane & Koal Kao.

[SirBloody Idiot]

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

THIRD AND FOURTH QUARTER-FINALS

• They say good luck comes in threes, and it was so nearly the case for Jefferson Drake as yet again he came back from a horror start to be on the cusp of victory. Set the task of upsetting the world's best clay court player, the eighth seed looked understandably nervous early on and, what's more, completely out of his depth as Daniel Páez Blanco shut him out of the first set 6-0. But it was clear that his third round win (1-6 in the first set) and fourth round win (0-6 in the first set) were not flukes, and the commentators still inexplicably gave him a chance. Any chance they gave him against the defending champion after the first set fell away at 3-3 in the second as he let a 40-0 lead slip to be broken twice and drop the set 3-6.

Down two-sets to love and up a certain creek minus a conveyancing device, Drake spent the best part of the break between sets with a towel over his head swearing at himself. It seemed to be the impetus he needed as he started to put away those loose forehands from Blanco with some of his typical enthusiasm and led by a break in the third set. The grinding style of the Spaniard allowed him to break back to be square at 4-4, but immediately after his normally rock solid concentration slipped and he put a regulation rally forehand into the net to hand Drake a 5-4 lead. The eighth seed, sensing his opportunity, kicked it up a notch and served out the third set 6-4 with an ace out wide.

All of a sudden the French crowd were sensing something, and Drake was quick to get them involved as he came to the net to put away an attempted pass from Blanco with an athletic stretch to his backhand side. That gave him a 2-1 lead, and the World No. 8 was no longer playing catch up as Blanco was left to try to scrap his way back into the set. No one on the tour is better at fighting than Blanco, and he created no less than six break point opportunities in the fourth set. Drake, however, was cool under the pressure and had clearly eased into the match after his disastrous start. He held on under immense pressure to take the World No. 2 into a fifth set on clay for the first time in his career.

In a nailbiting affair, both players proved very strong on serve as neither faced down a break point in their opening four service games respectively. Then, at 15-30, Blanco sent a backhand wide to give Drake his first look at a chance to serve for the match. Unfortunately for the eighth seed, Blanco showed immeasurable resolve to face them down by drawing an error from Drake in a long rally and then acing him down the centre to draw the game to deuce. Drake couldn't get a read on the veteran's first serve, and all of a sudden was serving at 4-5 to stay in the match.

Despite taking the first point, Drake was in trouble as his failure to capitalise on at least the first break point took its toll on his confidence. Handing Blanco two match points with a backhand that just went wide (he got the umpire to check the mark for him), a brave Jefferson Drake was sent packing by the defending champion with an unfortunate double fault to end the match - Blanco into the semi finals 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4. Despite the loss, Drake produced probably the best performance of his career and looks primed to be a real contender at the home of tennis in just three weeks time.

• His opponent in the semi finals will be sixth seed Rasmus Olesen who ended the dream run of unseeded super-veteran Jean-Alain Depuis. Contending with a highly vocal Centre Court crowd, Olesen recovered from an unfortunate second set to move into his second Slam semi of the season with an impressive 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.

• Seeded players out: Jefferson Drake.

[SirBloody Idiot]

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

FIRST AND SECOND QUARTER-FINALS

• The magnificent run of Brett Read has come to a disappointing end as he was outplayed and outclassed by József Boros, the Hungarian seventh seed. It appears that Read's heavy schedule finally took its toll as he struggled to match the Hungarian who has dropped just one set in the tournament so far. Read has profited from wasteful opponents, but Boros is more in the mould of Blanco in that he happily camps on the baseline and waits for his opponent to make errors. The similar styles did not make for an aesthetically pleasing match at times as both players refused to pull the trigger in some repetitive rallies.

Serving second, Read was left to play catch up against Boros and struggled to make any inroads against his serve. He was down a break early in the first set, and despite breaking back to be level at 3-3 he was unable to hold on at 4-5 as Boros prevailed in a twenty-four shot rally with a backhand down the line. Needing a better start to the second, Read refused to depart from the tactic that has served him so well and was made to pay as he made too many errors and gave Boros too many chances.

The unseeded West CWLander was unable to create a break point chance in the second set, and watched as a meek second serve was cracked cross-court by Boros to bring up two set points. Having saved five already in the set, Read saved a sixth before Boros outsliced him to take a two sets to love lead at the two-and-a-half hour mark.

On the brink of destruction at 0-3, Read tried to mix things up by serving and volleying a little bit against Boros. But after allowing the Hungarian to crack two clean return winners to bring up three break points, Read was clearly left without answers as the Hungarian went ahead a double break. Bagelled in the third, it was a hugely disappointing end to a very fine tournament as Boros took a 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win in a tick over three hours to advance to a maiden Grand Slam semi final.

Read will find some positives in defeat as it clearly exposed his weaknesses. His serve is still lacking - particularly his second serve - while he needs to find a way to add more strings to his bow if he is to effectively compete with the world's top twenty players.

• Earlier, unseeded Frenchman Jean-Christophe Genghini became the first of the local players to bow out at the semi final stage in a straight sets loss to Ukrainian eleventh seed Illya Altman. Genghini threw everything he had at Altman in an entertaining contest, and really should have taken the second set after romping to a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately for the locals, Altman withstood a barrage to move into the semis for the first time 7-5, 7-5, 6-2. It is an amazing result for Altman who, although being gifted a very generous draw, had a woeful preparation marred by injury and embarrassing defeats.

• Seeded players out: None.

[SirBloody Idiot]

I'll try to power through the rest of the tournament considering there are so few forum members still alive so we can get cracking on the start of the grass season which will no doubt please Messrs Delev, Drake and Mustard.

[Marcuss]

Marcuss vs Marcus. heh.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Devo.

And I'll go out in the first round at Wimbledon, lock it in Eddie.

[Mister Wright]

Good to see Mustard through in the doubles. Nothing short of the championship trophy will be accepted by Mustard.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Boys' Singles
GRAND SLAM - Thursday (Day Twelve) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Top seed Marcuss Deane survived a late scare to win the rematch of the Australian Open juniors final with a straight sets result against Marcus Lindberg of Sweden. Both players had looked impressive this week on the clay, and in a tight first set they traded breaks as Lindberg looked like he was getting a read on the Deane serve. At 5-6, though, Deane stepped inside of a bad second serve to give himself a set point - converting it to take the first 7-5. The second set looked done as Deane held serve to love to lead 5-0, but Lindberg stayed in the match by breaking Deane in his next service game to draw back to 3-5. With a second chance to serve out the match, Deane completed a 7-5, 6-3 win to advance to the semis. There he meets Frenchman Wyatt LeRoux after he came from a set down to beat Germany's Terry Haase 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

• In the fourth quarter final, thirteenth seeded Frenchman Dominic Viens provided just good enough for Morgan Burridge in a tough matchup. Having taken out one of Burridge's compatriots, Viens made himself West CWLand junior enemy No. 1 as he showed some impressive consistency in shotmaking to get himself out of some awkward moments in the first set. With typical French flair, he hit an insanely good backhand to take the first set 6-4 and quickly opened up an early lead in the second at 3-0. Viens had the chance to serve for the match at 5-3, but failed to convert as Burridge hung in the contest to take it to a tiebreaker. It was tough going, but the thirteenth seed prevailed 7-5 in the breaker to secure a semi final berth 6-4, 7-6(5). He meets eighth seeded Pole Samuel Czarzewski who beat third seeded Bulgarian Stepan Ivanov.

• Seeded players out: Stepan Ivanov; Marcus Lindberg.

[SirBloody Idiot]

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

• Second seeds Heath Davis and Jojo Mustard will this Sunday compete in their third straight Grand Slam final after a tough three-set win over thirteenth seeds Rob Bowenburg and Jarkko Maxum. In a match in which both teams played a high standard of doubles tennis, Davis and Mustard drew first blood as they took the first set in a tiebreaker 7-4. Bowenburg and Maxum led by a minibreak early in the breaker, but were chased down by the two-time Grand Slam champs who continue to impress with great communication and skill. It looked game over at 5-3 in the second set, and with two match points on the Davis serve it seemed as if the World No. 2 pairing would be into a final unscathed. However the pairing failed to convert either of them and watched as the thirteenth seeds rallied to secure back-to-back breaks and the second set 7-5. But in the third set, the favourites lifted a gear and showed their undoubted quality as they struck early to take the East-West pairing out of the match. They broke twice to secure the win 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-1 to move into another major final.

• They will meet top seeds and defending champions Hugh James and Ralph Robinson in a hotly-anticipated showdown between the world's top two teams. The American duo saved their best form for the second set against the surprise success story of Ivars Emsis and Alexey Yarkin as they secured their spot in the final 6-3, 6-0. The pairing have met in a Grand Slam final before - CWLand last year - where the then CWLand prevailed in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The two teams also met just a fortnight ago in Düsseldorf where Davis and Mustard again took home the bickies in a dead rubber 6-3, 4-6, [10-7].

• Seeded players out: Rob Bowenburg & Jarkko Maxum.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Originally Posted by Mister Wright

Good to see Mustard through in the doubles. Nothing short of the championship trophy will be accepted by Mustard.

wac

[Marcuss]

Yeeeew

[Mister Wright]

Originally Posted by dontcloseyoureyes

wac

Although Mustard appreciates the sentiment, It's a little too early to be saying, "What A Champion". Hopefully that can be repeated after the doubles final.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Boys' Singles
GRAND SLAM - Friday (Day Thirteen) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• Top seed Marcuss Deane will not compete in his second Grand Slam final after French opponent Wyatt LeRoux staged a miraculous comeback to beat him in three sets. Deane was in unstoppable form early as he bagelled the French wildcard in the first set, but after the nerves wore off LeRoux found his way back into the match and started to create chances on the Deane serve. In a lengthy tiebreaker, the local hope needed five set points to put Deane away and send the match to a deciding third and final set. There, both players had their opportunities as Deane had the chance to serve for the match three times. Unfortunately for him he was not successful in any of those attempts as LeRoux became the first Frenchman into the final 0-6, 7-6(6), 11-9.

• It won't be an all-French final, though, as thirteenth seed Dominic Viens was beaten by Samuel Czarzewski in straight sets 2-6, 6-7(3).

• Seeded players out: Marcuss Deane; Dominic Viens.

[SirBloody Idiot]

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

• World No. 2 Daniel Páez Blanco will this Sunday compete in another French Open final after a second five-set contest in three days - this time against sixth seed Rasmus Olesen of Denmark. After their previous meeting in the semi finals of the Australian Open three months ago, Olesen was keen to atone for a destructive 2-6, 1-6, 4-6 loss to the Spaniard at Melbourne Park. The first four sets were tight - very tight - as the pair traded 6-4 scorelines throughout the match to send the semi final contest to a deciding fifth set. Blanco has already competed in his first five-set affair against Jefferson Drake on Wednesday, but he had it a lot easier in the fifth here as he outlasted the tiring Dane to move into the final for the second year running in the Open Era 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Having dropped six sets this week, the once unflappable champion now looks more vulnerable than ever.

• His tank will be put to the test by first time Grand Slam finalist József Boros who came from a set back to beat eleventh seed Illya Altman. Altman, who has inexplicably played himself into form after a horror preparation, took the first set 6-3 in an inspired first set of hitting. But after his strong start, he lost twelve of the next thirteen games as the gritty Boros began to work his way into the match with deep hitting and forcing Altman to make his own power - something he couldn't do. It looked like curtains at 3-0 in the fourth, but Altman mustered some courage to send the set to a tiebreaker. Despite having three set points, he fell to the Hungarian Boros who moved into a maiden Grand Slam final 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-6(10). For Altman, it was his second Grand Slam semi final loss in as many Slams having gone down to Jason Hall at the Australian Open in early February.

• Seeded players out: Illya Altman; Rasmus Olesen.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Roland Garros II - Boys' Finals Day
GRAND SLAM - Saturday (Day Fourteen) - Paris, France - Clay (Red)

• In the juniors doubles final, top seeds Jack Schaap and Tommy Schaap claimed their first junior Grand Slam title with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over third seeds Diego Caballero and Santiago Manzo. The youngsters had previously lost the final of the doubles at the Australian Open to an Asian pairing, but proved too good for the Argentinian-Peruvian pairing in their three set win.

• Seeded players out: Diego Caballero & Santiago Manzo.

• In the singles, wildcard entrant Wyatt LeRoux could not become the only Frenchman to pick up silverware at Roland Garros as he was beaten in straight sets by Polish junior Samuel Czarzewski. The long week of matches - particularly his semi final - appeared to take its toll, and Czarzewski eased to the title 6-1, 7-5.

• Seeded players out: None.