Thursday, May 30, 2013

FRENCH OPEN DAY 5 RESULTS AND DAY 6 PICKS AND PANS

The rain in Paris is wreaking havoc on the draw.  Some players are still yet to complete their second round match, and we have players who are already in the third round, getting ready to enter the round of 16.  No doubt, the fitness and mental focus of every single player will now come into focus as they try to finish their matches in a short a time as possible as they will no doubt have to play 2 matches per day. 

For the men it will be very hard especially if you have to play a 5 set match.  Look for a lot of players to play aggressively on the day in order to finish points quickly.  I doubt there will be a lot of racquet consultations between points as most of the players will be trying to finish their matches, rest and recover and perhaps head out to the court again for their next match. 

That being said, below are today's results of the matches that were completed today. The big news was the upset of Li Na by Bethanie Mattek-Sands.  I sensed in my post yesterday that there may have been an upset, as Li has not looked like a world beater during this clay court swing.  Credit to Mattek-Sands for playing aggressive tennis to get the win and make it through to the next round. 

Day 4  Completed Matches

Of the 16 ladies' matches scheduled today, 11 were completed.  Spin had a 63% success rate of those matches which were completed.  On the schedule tomorrow are 5 matches from Day 3 to be completed and Day 6 matches which will be detailed further.  The Day 3 matches for completion are:-

Kaia Kanepi v Stefanie Voegele 
Ashleigh Barty v Maria Kirilenko
Marion Bartoli v Mariana Duque-Marino
Francesca Schiavone v Kirsten Flipkens
Eugenie Bouchard v Maria Sharapova

Day 6 Scheduled Matches and Picks:

Serena Williams v Sorana Cirstea – the No. 1 is still on a mission
Petra Cetkovska v Roberta Vinci – she shocked me in the previous round. Maybe she will do it again
Bojana Jovanovski v Svetlana Kuznetsova – again, making no waves but playing good tennis
Varvara Lepchenko Angelique Kerber – this is a toss up
Agnieszka Radwanska v Dinah Pfizenmaier – the qualifier’s dream ends here
Virginie Razzano v Ana Ivanovic – so does the dream of the wild card
Monica Puig v Carla Suarez Navarro – think the youngster just has a little more firepower than CSN
Sabine Lisicki Sara Errani – will run rings around Lisicki