French Open Day 6: Tracking the progress of seeded players

We got a full day of play in yesterday after rain had marred the previous couple of days. It all made for a busy day of tennis with the matches in progress from Thursday also completed.

Fallen Seeds

#10 Marin Cilic (Croatia)

Croatian Cilic fell victim to unseeded Serbian Victor Troicki in the 3^rd round 7-6 6-4 7-5. It was a surprise that Cilic lost this one in straight sets considering how even the contest was. The difference though was in the unforced errors, the Croatian making 56 in just 3 sets that ultimately put paid to his hopes.

#14 Milos Raonic (Canada)

Another of the top seeds who went in straight sets, losing to the No.23 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Raonic has been struggling this week on clay, not his favoured surface, and Anderson, who is one of the bright prospects coming up on tour, took full advantage to oust the big serving Canadian 7-5 7-6 6-3.

Ones who pro’seed’ed

Round 3

#2 Roger Federer (Switzerland)

Federer faced Frenchman Julien Benneteau, the No.30 seed, who has proven to be a tricky opponent in the past. He had stretched the Swiss to five sets in last year’s Wimbledon 3^rd round. There were no such worries yesterday as Federer eased into the 4^th round with a 6-3 6-4 7-5 victory in a little over 90 minutes.

#4 David Ferrer (Spain)

Defeated good friend and fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-1 7-5 6-4. Lopez actually played quite a solid game, even breaking Ferrer’s serve three times, but his 2^nd serve and unforced errors eventually made it easy for the No.4 seed.

#6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)

France’s no. 1 looked good out on court as he took care of compatriot Jeremy Chardy, the No.25 seed, 6-1 6-2 7-5. A mouth-watering quarterfinal with Federer looms.

#11 Nicolas Almagro (Spain)

Made light work of Italian 20^th seed Andreas Seppi 7-6 6-0 6-4; will play Tommy Robredo in Round 4.

#12 Tommy Haas (Germany)

It was the battle of the generations, as 34-year old Haas took on 21-year old Jack Sock. It was the veteran who prevailed over the youngster 7-6 6-2 7-5.

#15 Gilles Simon (France)

While Monfils bowed out in five, Simon gave the French supporters something to cheer about as he won in five sets beating 18^th seed Sam Querrey of the USA 2-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 6-2. Simon had come from 2-0 down in the first round against Lleyton Hewitt, and he next faces Federer in Round 4.

#32 Tommy Robredo (Spain)

It is turning out to be an incredible tournament for Robredo. The Spaniard, after being out of the game for 18 months with thigh and abdominal problems which threatened to end his career, is back mixing it in the Grand Slams. He played the local fan favourite Gael Monfils, who was himself on a comeback after recovering from injury.

It was a match between 2 players who were making an emotional return to the game after a long time out. It went to five sets, the 2^nd such match for both – Monfils had beaten 5^th seed Tomas Berdych in an epic 5-setter in the 1^st round while Robredo had come back from 2 sets down in just the previous round against Igor Sijsling.

Monfils took the first 2 sets displaying some excellent tennis making plenty of winners. Robredo, though, refused to go away, fighting back to win the third. In a drama filled 4^th set, Monfils had 4 match points to take the game, all of which were saved by Robredo. The Spaniard forced a tie-breaker and eventually won it to push it into a 5^th set.

Both players appeared to be struggling in the final set, but the Frenchman looked completely out of gas and Robredo used the momentum in his favour to snatch a double break of serve and win the contest 2-6 6-7 6-2 7-6 6-2 in 10 minutes short of 4 hours.

Round 2

#3 Rafael Nadal (Spain)

Nadal has played two rounds and has lost a set in each of them. Surprised? Everyone is. His opponent was a Martin Klizan, a tall lefty with a big serve, the kind of player that Nadal does not like to play against. Klizan got off the blocks well winning the first set, but the King of Clay did what he does best, rebounding to grind out a win in four sets 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3.

#7 Richard Gasquet(France)

France’s No.2 dispatched Michal Przysiezny of Poland 6-3 6-3 6-0.

#8 Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)

In another of the many long 5-set duels that we witnessed on Day 6, Janko Tipsarevic quelled the comeback charge of Spanish clay courter Fernando Verdasco. After taking the first 2 sets, Tipsarevic saw the Spaniard come back strong to take sets 3 & 4. The match went to its limits before the Serb took the 5^th set 8-6 to complete a 7-6 6-1 3-6 5-7 8-6 in over four-and-a-half hours.

#9 Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)

‘Stan the Man’ has had a very good clay court season. He won at Estoril and made the finals of the Madrid Masters 1000 event, and he’s looking good here in the 1^st week. Horacio Zeballos is a clay court specialist and Stan did well to come through in straight sets 6-2 7-6 6-4. The Swiss hit an astonishing 50 winners during the match.

#19 John Isner (USA)

The battle of the Americans saw 19^th seed Isner take on Ryan Harrison. You can never discount a long one when ‘Marathon Man’ Isner is around, as this one too went the distance. The younger Harrison gave Isner quite the run for his money, taking the first two sets, before ‘Little John’ came up with the goods to put down his young challenger 5-7 6-7 6-3 6-1 8-6.

#21 Jerzy Janowicz (Poland)

The big Pole continued his fine recent run, making the 3^rd round with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 win over Robin Haase. Janowicz, standing at 6’8”, plays an explosive brand of tennis and has the capacity to rip through opponents and also ripping his shirt in the process after victory.

#29 Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)

Beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3 6-7 7-5 6-4.