Roland Garros – Mid Tournament Review

Roland Garros – Mid Tournament Review

We are about halfway through this years installment of Roland Garros, and the action has come thick and fast in the French capital.

Seeds have fallen, five-setters have been contested, and the fourth round is now upon us with the second week of the tournament set to serve up more thrills and spills for our enjoyment.

With the halfway stage now reached, here is my mid-tournament review of the 2015 French Open.

Best Match

On the men’s side there have been a couple of edge-of-your seat clashes, with Gael Monfils twice going the distance in front of a partisan crowd.

It was the second of those matches that really caught the eye though, with Monfils seemingly down and out when trailing by two sets to one and a double break in the fourth against the rapidly improving Pablo Cuevas.

However, the home favourite showed remarkable guts and determination to force a decider, playing some exhibition tennis along the way, to claim an exhilarating, not to mention memorable, victory over the deflated Uruguayan.

Drama, great points and a frenetic atmosphere to match – this game was truly one to savour in the Parisian sunshine.

As for the women, there can only be one choice. Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova couldn’t quite repeat the heroics of their 30-game gruelling third set in the 2011 Australian Open, but Thursday’s clash between the two was a classic nevertheless.

The pair contested the longest match in the Grand Slam open era in Melbourne four years ago, and they went to extreme lengths again in their most recent encounter.

Tie-breaks, a plethora of service breaks and no shortage of great points all contributed to a wonderful game for the neutral, with the Italian eventually prevailing 10-8 in the decider.

Biggest Shock

For the men there has been little in the way of major upsets so far, with the household names progressing in smooth fashion, but the first round exit of Grigor Dimitrov did catch the eye.

Jack Sock is improving all the time and was always going to be a danger for Dimitrov, but no one expected the energetic American to take down the supremely talented Bulgarian in straight sets as easily as he did.

The tenth seed has been earmarked for greatness for some time, but the manner in which he was swept aside by the world number 37 will be very concerning for his team, but very promising for Sock and his fans.

Sock has progressed under the radar since then, but faces the test of all tests now – a fourth round encounter with none other than Rafael Nadal. Is another Sock Shock on the cards?

On the women’s side, there have been more high profile exits all across the board.

Five of the top ten have exited the tournament, with Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard, Carla Suarez Navarro and Andrea Petkovic failing to make it to the second week.

However, it was the elimination of Simona Halep that really got tongues wagging.

The world number three reached the final of this competition last year, succumbing in three tense and tight sets to Maria Sharapova, and she has been in great form at the start of 2015 as well.

Therefore a second round encounter against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni didn’t really strike anyone as anything other than a straightforward win for the Romanian. Not so, as the 33-year-old Croatian got the better of Halep for the second time in the last three majors, repeating the feat she achieved at the 2014 US Open.

In the end Lucic-Baroni conceded just six games on her way to a massively impressive win in Paris, with her run coming to an end soon after in a final set loss to Alize Cornet.

Who Has Impressed?

As expected, the big four in the men’s draw have made serene progress, with just one set dropped between them on their respective routes to the fourth round.

Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal have all looked imperious in patches, but tougher tests certainly lie ahead where we will really see what they are made of as regards going all the way in this tournament.

As for the less glamorous names, Kei Nishikori has been almost faultless in his progression to the last-16, while big hitters Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic have quietly, but professionally, made their way into the second week and should not be overlooked.

David Ferrer, in usual style, has completely flew under the radar on his favourite surface at his favourite Slam. But a five-setter against the unheralded Simone Bolelli in the third round may not bode well for the diminutive Spaniard’s chances as the competition starts to get serious.

While the men’s tournament has pretty much gone to plan so far, the same cannot be said for the women, where some big names have made an early exit and others have been perilously close to waving goodbye to Paris for another year.

Serena Williams has been nowhere near her brutal best, with a deciding set needed to get the better of Anna-Lena Friedsam in the second round, while she was a set and a break down to Victoria Azarenka on Saturday before she turned the tide just in the nick of time.

Meanwhile, the scorelines suggest that number two seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova has cruised through so far. But the reality has been quite different.

The Russian has been battling illness, and below par performances on her route to the second week mean her aspirations of winning the tournament look a little jaded on current form. The caveat is of course with time her health should improve and with it her performances – can anyone stop her should that happen?

Former champion Ana Ivanovic has battled through to the fourth round and faces a stern test in the last 16, with Ekaterina Makarova standing between her and a quarter-final place on Sunday morning.

In short, no one has really stood out as being in sparkling form on the women’s side, but the unpredictability of it all makes it all the more exciting doesn’t it?