So that’s it from me. It’s been an excellent day’s tennis, with wins for defending champions Garbiñe Muguruza and Novak Djokovic. Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic, David Goffin, Karolina Pliskova, Sam Stosur and Caroline Wozniacki are also through, but there were a couple of casualties among the men’s seeds as Gilles Simon and Jack Sock were beaten. Also on her way home is Francesca Schiavone, the champion in 2010, who has played the last match of her career at Roland Garros. Good night and thanks for reading.
What an extraordinary match that was, a festival of nerves, drama and unrelenting tension. Mladenovic, who admitted to Fabrice Santoro in her post-match interview that she has been having treatment on her back, was a long way from her best. And the quality was variable, with the two players making 91 unforced errors between them. But as a spectacle, you really couldn’t take your eyes off it for a moment. Breathless stuff.
Mladenovic beats Brady 3-6, 6-3, 9-7!
Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 9-7 Brady (*denotes server)
After the agony, the ecstasy! Close to tears, Mladenovic works her way to the net at 30-0 and stabs away a volley. Three match points. The first goes begging, but at 40-15 she sends a serve wide to the Brady forehand and the American can only slice it into the net. Mladenovic wins, and the tears flow freely. Incredible scenes!
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Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 8-7 Brady* (*denotes server)
The drama here is relentless, history repeating itself with another protracted line-call dispute that seems to fire up Mladenovic and inspire her to break. She had some help, mind you, Brady failing to move forward for a short ball at 30-40 and stabbing a tired shot into the net. Mladenovic to serve for it again.
Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 7-7 Brady (*denotes server)
Would you believe it? Brady breaks back again. A rapid exchange of errors – Brady nets a forehand, Mladenovic goes wide with a drop shot – is followed by an ace from the server and a forehand winner from the American. That just about sums up this match. But Brady fashions a break point, and converts it with another searing forehand to level the decider again. It’s as you were.
Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 Brady* (*denotes server)
Wow. Clearly fired up after the perceived injustice of that line call at the end of the previous game, Mladenovic starts the game like an express train and breaks at a canter. It’s as if all the nerves were just brushed away by a sudden surge of anger. Will she see it out this time?
Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 6-6 Brady (*denotes server)
Agony for Mladenovic, who double-faults to fall 15-30 behind, saves break point with a courageous wrong-footing forehand at 30-40, but slices tamely into the net at break point down. The aftermath wasn’t too tame, mind, Mladenovic arguing long and hard with the umpire over whether the shot from Brady had found the line. It had, but there was a protracted delay while the official came on to the court. That can’t be fair on the American.
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Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-5 Brady* (*denotes server)
The longer this match goes on, the more the odds must favour Mladenovic. She has the winning habit. She has the greater experience. And now she has the break, too, Brady double-faulting at 15-30 before mistiming an overhit forehand. She’s not playing the percentages here, Brady.
Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 5-5 Brady (*denotes server)
At 15-15, Brady pauses to attend to her shoelaces while Mladenovic waits to serve. If it’s a ploy, it backfires big time. Far from giving the home favourite time to contemplate her predicament and succumb to nerves, it seems to fire her up. She celebrates winning the next point like she’s just won the title, and sees out the game with a penetrating off forehand that the stretching Brady can only guide into the net. Tremendous, gutsy hold from Mladenovic, that.
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Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 4-5 Brady* (*denotes server)
At 15-15, Mladenovic lunges to her right after being wrong-footed by a Brady forehand that sails beyond her for a winner. She winces in pain, clutching her back. But at this stage the agony is as much mental and emotional as physical. Improbably, she stays in the game long enough to pull it back to deuce, somehow finding the line with the trembliest forehand volley you could ever wish to see. She even manages to conjure a forehand winner from outside the doubles alley. But it’s all to no avail, Brady sealing the hold when Mladenovic screws an off forehand into the bottom of the net. The Frenchwoman will have to serve to stay in it.
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Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 4-4 Brady (*denotes server)
At 15-0, Mladenovic hits a double-fault so tight that you could make a drumhead out of it. It doesn’t bode well for a fifth game in a row and, sure enough, she doesn’t win another point, Brady slamming a forehand winner down the line at 15-40 to get back on level terms. Oh, Kristina.
Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 4-3 Brady* (*denotes server)
Forget aesthetics, forget winners, this is out-and-out attrition now. Both players are making horrible errors, the nerves are almost palpable, and it’s all about staying positive and getting the ball in play any which way. It is Mladenovic who finally seals the deal, the 13th seed breaking Brady to win a fourth successive game after conjuring just enough quality when it mattered. It’s ugly stuff, but it’s none the less compelling for that.
Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 3-3 Brady (*denotes server)
From 3-0 down, Mladenovic has won 12 out of 16 points. It’s the hallmark of a player who has won matches with machine-like consistency this year. She holds to love and the players have now won 86 points apiece overall. What will happen next? I have absolutely no idea, and I’d wager that neither of these players does either.
Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 3-2 Brady* (*denotes server)
Sure enough, Mladenovic breaks to get back on terms. This is naive play from Brady. As the clock passes the two-hour mark, she quickly falls 0-30 behind. Does she just slow down and get her first serve in play? Does she heck. She coughs up a short second serve at 15-30, goes long with a backhand, and concedes the second of the two break points that follow. Mladenovic may yet find herself laughing all the way to the second round.
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Third set: Mladenovic* 3-6, 6-3, 3-1 Brady (*denotes server)
Inexperience there from Brady, who goes for too much when all she really needed to do was get the ball in play. It gifts Mladenovic an easy hold, which may be just the respite the Frenchwoman needs.
Third set: Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 3-0 Brady* (*denotes server)
Things are not looking good for Mladenovic. A penetrating serve from Brady at 30-30 brings up game point for a 3-0 lead. The Frenchwoman digs in to construct a brilliant point, working her way back into the game with some patient play from the back, but the problem is clear: she’s superb one moment, awful the next. In the latter category is the dog’s breakfast of a drop shot that brings up another game point for Brady. In the former is the lacerating return that sets up a forehand winner to haul her back to deuce. What must Brady, who has barely won a match on this surface over the past few weeks, be making of all this? In the end it matters not, because Mladenovic takes matters out of the American’s hands. Not in a good way, though. First she puts a dismal two-hander half way up the net, then she clumps a forehand volley wide. Dear me.
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Right let’s switch our focus to Mladenovic. She’s a break down in the decider, trailing 2-0 after a truly awful attempt at a forehand drop shot on break point.
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Karolina Pliskova is through after beating Saisai Zheng 7-5, 6-2. Surprisingly, though, former finalist David Ferrer is struggling against Donald Young. The American leads Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 5-4 out on Court 17.
Meanwhile, Mladenovic is back on terms with Jennifer Brady. With just over an hour and a half gone, she’s won the second set 6-3.
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LTA chiefs, look away now. Aljaz Bedene, who won in straight sets earlier against Ryan Harrison, is considering switching his allegiance back to Slovenia. He says he wants to compete in the Olympics. How happy Slovenia will be about that – let alone the LTA, who have devoted substantial time and money to supporting his claims to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup – remains to be seen.
Stosur has won against Kucova, 7-5, 6-1. The Aussie is in the quarter of the draw vacated by top seed Angelique Kerber on Sunday, and will no doubt be looking to capitalise on the German’s defeat. Pliskova, meanwhile, leads by a set and 4-2 against Zheng.
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Mladenovic is recovering well against Brady, but is struggling to rotate her shoulders on the forehand. One moment she looks as though she is starting to feel more comfortable, the next it’s back to square one. In all honesty, it’s hard to tell whether the Frenchwoman’s problems are physical, mental or a combination of the two. As mentioned earlier, she’s the cover star of today’s programme – edging out Djokovic, Nadal and Muguruza – and the sense of expectation surrounding her is huge. Is that weighing on her mind? Whatever, she bounces back from 15-40 to hold for 5-2, and that’s pretty impressive given that she’s hit 25 unforced errors so far.
Pliskova, meanwhile, has wrapped up the opening set 7-5 against Zheng – despite making 17 unforced errors – and is a break to the good in the second set. Sam Stosur is 7-5, 3-1 up against Kristina Kucova of Slovakia over on Court 1. Another former finalist, Sara Errani, is also going well. The Italian, who was beaten by Maria Sharapova in the 2012 final but had to qualify this year, has won the opening set 7-6 against Misaki Doi. And Marin Cilic is through after beating Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
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Right, I’m back. So what’s been happening? Well, Mladenovic has lost the opening set 6-3 against Brady, whose clay-court record is hardly a distinguished one. The American lost opening round matches in Strasbourg and Stuttgart, where she was respectively beaten by Barbora Strycova and Caroline Garcia, and lost in qualifying in Rome and Madrid. In mitigation, though, Mladenovic appears to be carrying a back injury, for which she has received treatment. She’s grimacing a lot, but the Frenchwoman – whose father moved from the former Yugoslavia in 1992 – has just survived a seven-minute opening service game and may yet chart a course through to round two. If she is injured, it would seem to be a recent development: on Sunday afternoon, she wrote on Twitter that she couldn’t wait to be on court.
All set for Roland Garros. Can’t wait to be on the court. #Mygame #RG17 @adidasfr @adidastennis pic.twitter.com/OOIbFmlqV7
— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) May 28, 2017
It’s been a far from smooth start for the French hope, Kristina Mladenovic. The 13th seed is 3-1 down against Jennifer Brady, although Mladenovic is battling hard at deuce on the American’s serve. Over on Suzanne Lenglen Court, things are going with serve between Pliskova and Zheng. Elsewhere, Cilic is on the verge of going through. He’s 5-2 up in the third set against Ernests Gulbis.
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Over on Suzanne Lenglen, meanwhile, second seed Karolina Pliskova is warming up against Zheng Saisai of China, who is ranked 67th. I’m going to take a quick break now, but we’ll be back with more action soon.
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Kristina Mladenovic opens her challenge against the big-serving Jennifer Brady, an American ranked 88th. Mladenovic, the 13th seed, has had quite a year so far, winning her first WTA title in St Petersburg and reaching finals in Acapulco, Stuttgart and Madrid. Could she make an impression here and become the new darling of the Bois de Boulogne? She is the reigning women’s doubles champion at Roland Garros, winning the title alongside Caroline Garcia last year, and she won’t want for crowd support. But she’s made a tentative start, hitting three double-faults in her opening service game, and wears a slightly pained expression as Brady breaks for 2-0.
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Nadal beats Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1
Meanwhile, Goffin has sewn things up against Mathieu and Nadal has won against Paire. In the latter match, there was a lovely moment a couple of games ago when Paire stumbled to reach a superb drop volley by Rafa, tumbling to the clay and prompting Nadal to help him up. I wonder if the Spaniard will also offer to pay his opponent’s dry cleaning bill. Generosity is definitely in order because, the second set aside, that was a bit of a mauling from Rafa. He wraps up victory with an overhead, winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.
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On his new partnership with Agassi, Djokovic says: “Having Andre in my box, a legend of our sport, is very special – truly an honour.”
“Two and a half hours for three sets is quite long, credit to Marcel,” says Djokovic. “He disrupts your rhythm … we played some very, very long games and he came up with some big serves when he needed to. I’m still looking to play 100%, but I’m happy with straight sets.”
Tenth seed David Goffin is 6-2, 6-2, 4-1 up against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France over on Court 1. Some have the Belgian down as a dark horse for the title. We shall see. Nadal continues to preserve that third-set break against Paire and leads 3-1.
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Djokovic beats Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Granollers has certainly done his bit to keep the crowd entertained on Philippe Chatrier Court, but finally his resistance ends. Djokovic survives three break points to see out the match in straight sets, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to progress to round two. It was hardly a perfect performance from the Serb, but one suspects he won’t care much about that. He has made a victorious start to his title defence, got two hours and 27 minutes of match tennis under his belt, and generated some positive PR by recruiting the ball kids to join him in his celebrations. Job done.
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Granollers briefly clawed back a break against Djokovic to trail 4-2 in the third, but the Serb hit back immediately and is now serving for the match. Meanwhile, Nadal draws first blood in the third set, breaking Paire as the Frenchman – whose gesturing to his box suggests he may have sustained some kind of abdominal injury – sends a forehand wide.
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Nadal wins the second set against Paire to lead 6-1, 6-4
It’s all happening on Suzanne Lenglen. Paire, not one for biting his tongue at the best of times, complains about the amount of time Rafa is taking between first and second serves. The notoriously testy French crowd start getting involved, whistling as Nadal is about to serve, and he stops to glare at someone in the stands. Rafa quickly puts it all behind him, though. Helped by umpire James Keothavong’s mistaken belief that a deep, deep forehand queried by Paire landed inside the baseline, Rafa serves out for a two-set lead.
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“The Big Dogs looking like their old selves,” writes John McEnerney, apropos of Djokovic – who is now two sets to love and 3-1 up on Chatrier – and Nadal. “Rafa with a full head of hair is on fire and should get La Decima on Sunday week!” He may well do, John. He’s been struggling a bit here so far, mind, although a love break that leaves him serving for a two-set lead at 5-4 should do him a power of good.
On the subject of Nadal’s trademark shot, Eurosport showed an interesting graphic highlighting a sharp increase this year in the number of Nadal forehands exceeding 3,000 rotations per minute. Last August, the Spaniard was hitting just 22% of his forehands at 3,000-plus rotations, a far cry from his heyday. This month, that figure has been 77%. In other words, the massive topspin Nadal generates at his best – which makes his shots so difficult to get purchase on – is back with a vengeance. Not that Paire seems overly bothered by it. He wastes a couple of chances to break for 5-3 in the second, netting a half-volley after meandering almost aimlessly into the net and missing a makable return. He then forces the scrambling Nadal to find the baseline with a backhand smash on a third break point. Finally, though, Nadal makes his forehand tell twice in quick succession to hold for 4-4.
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From a technical perspective, a key element in Nadal’s remarkable year so far has been the renewed potency of his forehand. It has, of course, been his most trusted weapon down the years, but during the lean spell of 2015 and 2016 it fell away markedly. Not any more. He flicks a huge forehand winner down the line on game point to bring up 3-3, and Paire will have to start over if he wants to make an impression in this set.
Interesting times over on Suzanne Lenglen, where Nadal has just stopped a run of three games in favour of Paire. The Frenchman, who leads 3-2 with Rafa serving, has grown in confidence as the match has worn on. He now looks more willing to bide his time before unleashing his biggest shots, although it remains to be seen whether he can translate that progress into something more meaningful.
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At last, Granollers’ second-set resistance is at an end, the Spaniard driving long to fall two sets behind. Still, it took Djokovic nine attempts to get over the line and, while his progress to round two now seems all but assured, it looks like Agassi will need to earn his corn as the Serb’s new super-coach.
Finally, Djokovic nets a backhand and Granollers holds! The Serb saw eight set points come and go in that game. With an hour and 32 minutes gone, and Agassi wearing an expression of slight bemusement up in the Djokovic box, one wonders how much those missed opportunities will weigh on the defending champion as he looks to serve out from 5-4 for a two-set lead.
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As Paire brings up a first break point on the Nadal serve – which he converts when the Spaniard flicks a forehand wide – Djokovic and Granollers are still locked in a titanic struggle on the latter’s serve. It’s been going on for more than 12 minutes now, this game, with Granollers saving eight set points – the latest with a sweeping backhand winner. Extraordinary stuff.
Meanwhile, Rafa has won the opening set 6-1 against Paire, who has also lost his opening service game in the second and is looking increasingly forlorn.
Back on Chatrier, Djokovic – who was a double break up at 4-1 – reacted with fury after conceding his serve with an unforced error. Granollers held to move within a game of the Serb, but Djokovic replied in kind to lead 5-3. A remarkable tussle followed, with a wonderful forehand return from Novak bringing up 0-40 – and three set points. But the Spaniard fought back magnificently, saving the first two with aces, and they’re now locked in a protracted struggle on the Granollers serve.
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Nadal breaks for 3-1, sliding to his right to guide a backhand winner beyond the incoming Paire at 30-40 on the Frenchman’s serve. The problem facing Paire is clear: if he can’t bring the rallies to a quick conclusion – risking mistakes in the process – Nadal will use his forehand to construct the points on his own terms. Much as he does in the very next game, when he holds for 4-1 with something to spare.
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Another seed has fallen, with the Czech Jiri Vesely defeating Jack Sock, the world No15, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3.
The early signs are that Paire doesn’t much fancy getting embroiled in a baseline slugfest with Nadal. He holds his opening service game handily, the thunderous forehand with which he completes the hold in marked contrast to the almost casual flamboyance with which he caressed a winning forehand drop shot a couple of points earlier. He’s certainly got the shots to worry Rafa. But does he have the tenacity and grit to maintain a five-set challenge against the game’s greatest clay-courter? Probably not. Nadal responds by holding for 2-1.
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Djokovic has bagged an early break in the second set against Granollers. He leads by a set and 2-1. With the defending champion coasting, let’s switch our attention to Nadal, who has held his opening service game against Paire …
If you’re hankering for more on Garbiñe Muguruza’s win over Francesca Schiavone, hanker no more: here’s our report.
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Meanwhile, there’s been a significant first-round casualty in the men’s singles, with 31st seed Gilles Simon falling to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. Simon, a former top-tenner who has reached the last 16 at Roland Garros on three occasions in the past, won the opening set comfortably but was eventually undone 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. There was better news for 25th seed Steve Johnson, though. The American came through in five sets against Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, who fought back from two sets to love down before succumbing 6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3. He looked mighty relieved at the end, did Johnson.
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Next up on Suzanne Lenglen is a man who requires no introduction in these parts. Nine of Rafael Nadal’s 14 grand slam titles have come at Roland Garros and, after the way he has dominated the clay court season so far, there are sound reasons to believe he could extending that extraordinary record into double figures come the final Sunday. The Spaniard, who turns 31 on Saturday, has won all but one of his 18 matches on the red stuff this year, a run that has brought him his tenth Monte Carlo and Barcelona titles and a fifth crown in Madrid. What’s more, for all his problems with injury, loss of form and waning confidence in the two years following his 2014 win here, he has still only lost twice at Roland Garros in his career. There is little reason to believe that the mercurial Benoît Paire, who has never been beyond the last 32 here, will join Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic as the third player to beat him at the tournament he has made his own. The man from Avignon, ranked 44th in the world, has technical gifts aplenty. But for all his undoubted talent, Paire is a temperamental sort and has lost both his previous matches against Nadal – both of which were on clay.
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Granollers is battling hard against Djokovic, but it’s all to no avail so far. The Serb leads 6-3, although he isn’t looking altogether at ease with the world. He had to see off a break point at 4-2, which he did with an ace, but he’s been making heavy weather of this at times. A case in point was the backhand he netted with Granollers serving at 2-5 and deuce. He got up to it smoothly enough, but the execution was distinctly ungainly. Still, the reprieve was only temporary for the Spaniard, Djokovic wrapping up the set to love on his next service game.
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Relief is the overriding emotion from Wozniacki after her win over the up-and-coming Fourlis, whose play belied her ranking of 337. “I knew she was just going to go out there and just go for it and go for her shots,” says the Dane. “I didn’t feel that comfortable and she was hitting her shots really hard. I’m just happy to be through.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki comes through a tough three-setter against Jaimee Fourlis, seeing off the talented 17-year-old 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Also through is Britain’s Aljaz Bedene, who has raced through the fourth set against Ryan Harrison to wrap up a 6-4, 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 win.
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Djokovic wraps up a 38-shot rally with a winning overhead to lead 3-1 against Granollers. An excellent start from the Serb, featuring some typically pure ball-striking and silken footwork, was tarnished slightly when Granollers broke back from 2-0 down. But Novak quickly gets back on track and, based on the evidence so far, it’s hard to see what Granollers can do to hurt his opponent. Conscious that he’ll need to do something special to make inroads against the defending champion, the Spaniard is making some elementary mistakes. To underline the point, he makes another backhand error to fall 4-1 behind.
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This time last year, we knew just where we stood with Djokovic. The Serb swept to the title for the loss of just two sets, completing the career grand slam with victory over Andy Murray in the final. That win made him the holder of all four majors, and his place at the game’s summit looked unassailable. But how things have changed since. He has lost his Wimbledon, US Open and Australian titles, and the transition to clay has brought mixed fortunes. He lost to Gilles Simon in Monte Carlo, was trounced by Nadal in the Madrid semi-finals, and although he looked more convincing in Rome, where he reached the final, a straight-sets defeat to Alexander Zverev raised fresh questions going into Paris. Which Novak will turn up today?
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Novak Djokovic and Marcel Granollers have almost completed their warm-up on Philippe Chatrier Court. They’ve played three times previously, and Novak has won the lot. Worse still for the 77th-ranked Granollers, he is in wretched form. He’s won just one match on clay this year, in his hometown of Barcelona, and in three of the eight sets he has previously contested against Djokovic he has failed to win a game. Djokovic, who has Andre Agassi in his corner for the first time, will start on serve.
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Elsewhere, Milos Raonic is safely through against Steve Darcis of Belgium. The fifth seed wins in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Ryan Harrison has wrapped up the third set 6-3 against Aljaz Bedene, who now leads by two sets to one. But former world No1 Jelena Jankovic, a semi-finalist three times in Paris, is out. The 63rd-ranked Serb was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Richèl Hogenkamp of the Netherlands, who is ranked 105th.
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So that’s that for the Italian. Farewell, Francesca, we had a blast watching your French Open exploits. It helped that you always looked like you were enjoying it every bit as much as the rest of us. As for Muguruza, that’s a potential banana skin safely negotiated for the defending champion, who seems to be finding some form at just the right moment.
Muguruza beats Schiavone 6-2, 6-4!
Muguruza finishes the job, but it was by no means straightforward. That was the longest game of the match. Some typically impassioned play from Schiavone gave her an early edge in the game and, although the defending champion pulled it back to 30-30, she then made an unholy hash of a backhand drive volley to go break point down. Muguruza staved off the danger with a penetrating serve down the centre that she backed up with a huge backhand winner, struck clean and true down the line for deuce. A first match point soon followed but, when the defiant Schiavone outrallied her to pull the score back to deuce, the Spaniard looked thoroughly exasperated. Neither did she look too happy when the next one went begging, an attempted topspin lob falling long. Finally, though, Schiavone stabbed a forehand volley wide and Muguruza was home and dry.
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Back on Chatrier, Muguruza has broken to love at 4-4 and will serve for the match. Still, if this is to be Schiavone’s Roland Garros swansong, she’s going down with all guns blazing. At 0-40 down in her service game, the Italian well nigh hit the cover off the ball with a forehand that drifted just wide. Will Muguruza hold her nerve to see it out?
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Over on Court 3, Aljaz Bedene, the Ljubljana-born British No3, is going well against Ryan Harrison. The American is ranked 42nd – 10 places above Welwyn Garden City’s finest sporting export – but Bedene is two sets to the good. He leads 6-4, 6-0, although he’s 4-1 down in the third. We’ll keep an eye on that one.
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Outrageous. Leading 3-2 with Mugurza serving, Schiavone follows up a vicious, dipping backhand pass with a huge return that her opponent just about scrambles back into play. The Italian, who has charged in behind said return, plays the deftest of half-volleys to seal the deal. Muguruza hangs tough, reaching deuce before an ace carries her to game point. But Schiavone then produces another rapier-like backhand pass to get back on terms. Deuce again, and you sense that the heart of the match is unfolding right here. That may be bad news for the Italian, because another wonderful rally ends with a netted backhand to give Muguruza game point again, and the defending champion completes the hold when Schiavone narrowly misses with another brutally-struck backhand. Could that prove costly for Schiavone?
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Meanwhile, things are coming to the boil nicely on Chatrier, where Schiavone has recovered from an early break and has just held for 3-2 after winning three games in a row. The auspices are good for the Italian. She’s starting to find her range on the backhand, mixing high, looping topspin with vicious slice, and there’s a real spring in her step. Muguruza, on the other hand, whose form has been decidedly patchy this year – her recent run to the last four in Rome notwithstanding – is starting to make a few errors. She’s lost 12 of the last 16 points as I write.
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Looking further ahead, home favourite Kristina Mladenovic – the cover star of today’s programme, no less – is up against the American Jennifer Brady later on Chatrier. That will be followed by what promises to be the match of the day: the up and coming Alexander Zverev, the ninth seed, against Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Ernests Gulbis against Marin Cilic will also be worth keeping an eye on: they’ll play the third match on Court 2.
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The ladies aren’t the only show in town today, of course. Next up on Chatrier is Novak Djokovic, whose first match under the guidance of new coach Andre Agassi is against Marcel Granollers, the world No77. Rafael Nadal, the fourth seed and nine-time champion, is also in action later. He plays Benoît Paire, the fiery but talented Frenchman, in the second match on Suzanne Lenglen, where Caroline Wozniacki has just taken the opening set 6-4 against the Aussie wild card Jaimee Fourlis. Fourlis, you may recall, beat Anna Tatishvili at the Australian Open in January – ranked 200 spots above her – before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova (the other former women’s champion in the draw, since you ask) in round two.
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Day two preamble
Remember 1983, and the flying volleys and flamboyant dreadlocks of Yannick Noah, the last homegrown men’s singles champion at Roland Garros? How about 1990, when the 16-year-old Monica Seles, armed with a pneumatic giggle and groundstrokes to match, beat Steffi Graf to win her first major and become the youngest French Open champion in history? Who could forget Michael Chang’s famous underarm serve against Ivan Lendl, or Jennifer Capriati’s epic victory over Kim Clijsters in the 2001 final, 12-10 in the final set?
Any way you cut it, Paris has thrown up some truly memorable moments down the years. And few remain more vivid in the memory than Francesca Schiavone’s victory in the 2010 final. No one imagined the dimininutive Italian would lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen that year, least of all Schiavone herself. She was 29, ranked 17th, and had previously won only three titles in her entire professional career. Yet she took down Sam Stosur, the red-hot favourite, with a display of wit, courage and unalloyed brilliance. In the process, she proved that sometimes, just sometimes, miracles happen in sport; that years of relentless dedication and sacrifice can be channelled into one perfect moment of self-fulfilment.
I mention this because Schiavone, who is playing her last year on the WTA Tour after announcing that she will retire at the end of this season, is currently on Philippe Chatrier Court against Garbiñe Muguruza, the defending champion. Muguruza’s victory over Serena Williams in last year’s final was something of a throwback to Schiavone’s triumph, for it too had a touch of the fairytale. Indeed, the likeable Spaniard’s appraisal of the win was straight out of the Schiavone playbook: “I can’t explain with words what this day means to me, she said. “You work all your life to get here. I grew up on clay so … for me this is just amazing.” It reminded one of Schiavone, and it somehow feels fitting that they’ve been paired together.
With Williams and Maria Sharapova absent, there were only three former champions in the women’s draw in the first place. So it’s ironic that two of them should square off. Can Schiavione defy the odds one last time? We shall see. Play was briefly suspended on Philippe Chatrier when a spectator was taken ill. Muguruza, who started like an express train, breaking twice to establish a 3-0 lead, was 3-2 up at the time. The hiatus didn’t seem to disturb the defending champion, however, Muguruza wrapping up the opening set 6-2 on the resumption of play.
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