Friday, May 31, 2013

Roland Garros '13: Day 5 Review

Day 5 had rain written all over it. It came, it went and came again was the pattern of the entire day. Let's look at whatever little that could happen.

Women's Draw

In the biggest upset in the Women's side till now, the 2011 Roland Garros Champion Li Na is sent packing in the second round by the burly and muscular Bethanie Mattek-Sands of USA. The sixth seed from China Li won the opening set but had no answers to the big hitting of BMS who hit like a woman possessed to win the next two. The match had two long interruptions due to rain, but it was Mattek Sands who held her nerve and the game plan better. Except for the fashion statement in Zebra like outfit, Mattek-Sands was a delight to watch. She hammered the groundstrokes on both wings, leaving the Chinese running all over the place but never gaining control.

The other encounters had no upsets. Victoria Azarenka faced German Annika Beck who did push the number 3 seed but couldn't take the match into a third set. Samantha Stosur also won her match in straight sets with little discomfort. In a battle of pretty ladies, Maria Sharapova is leading 4-2 in the second after winning the first set over Eugenie Bouchard of Canada when the play got suspended. 15 minutes of play today i guess will be enough to put Maria through.

Men's Draw

Djokovic lost only four games to move through the next round where an exciting encounter is promised against Grigor Dimitrov, who also won today 6-1, 7-6, 6-1. In another match, the talented Frenchman Benoit Paire (playing on consecutive days due to rain delay) won the very close first set and went on to dominate the next two. 
All the other anticipated big matches including Tipsy vs Verdasco, Haas vs Sock could not take place yesterday due to rain. Nadal also warmed up but the match could not start. However, his anticipated third round encounter with Lukas Rosol is out of equation with Rosol losing to Fognini in four. Rosol bludgeoned his strokes and won the third set in emphatic fashion but could not keep that level before or after. Never mind!


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