French Open

[H18sry]

Andy Murray takes on Richard Gasquet on BBC interactive in a few minutes

come on Andy :greengrin

[Ritchie]

not looking to good for murray!

[HibeeMG]

He's doing alright now. Gasquet looking Donald Ducked!

[Sir David Gray]

Another great fightback from Murray, Gasquet must be sick of the sight of him in Grand Slam matches. :thumbsup:

That was probably the toughest first round match that Murray could have got because Richard Gasquet is a very talented player. I missed the last couple of sets but in the first set and a half, Gasquet was playing some fantastic tennis. I think Murray's stamina won at the end of the day and Gasquet just ran out of steam.

He now plays Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round and, although Murray should win, I don't think that will be an easy match.

Murray enjoys a 5-1 winning record against the Argentine and has won their last five meetings, including a straight sets win at last year's French Open.

However, clay is Chela's best surface and he is a former quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, so it's clear that he will be no pushover.

Good luck to him. As usual, he is left to carry the whole of British tennis at a major tournament. There were no other British men in the main draw and out of the three women who made it, two of them are out at the first round. Only Katie O'Brien is left and she will more than likely be out by tomorrow, after she's played her first match.

[Removed]

When the highlights were on the news earlier I saw Murray having heated words with the ref but not sure what was going on as the sound was down as I was on the phone. Anyone able to enlighten me?

[H18sry]

When the highlights were on the news earlier I saw Murray having heated words with the ref but not sure what was going on as the sound was down as I was on the phone. Anyone able to enlighten me?

He was complaining that Gasquet stopped play every time he was about to serve as he saw movement in the crowd, but Murray was complaining that it was slowing his game down to the speed Gasquet was wanting to play at, it happened after the 2nd set:wink:

[Removed]

He was complaining that Gasquet stopped play every time he was about to serve as he saw movement in the crowd, but Murray was complaining that it was slowing his game down to the speed Gasquet was wanting to play at, it happened after the 2nd set:wink:

Thanks :thumbsup:

There is a French joke in there but I'd better not :lips seal

[Sir David Gray]

Murray is looking good in his second round match against Chela, although he wasn't able to complete his match due to bad light.

He leads 6-2 3-3, going into tomorrow, when the match will be played to a finish.

It was completely farcical in another match though. In the Gael Monfils-Fabio Fognini match, the referee stepped in at around 21:30 (French time) to call an end to the day's play when it was 4-4 in the fifth and final set. It was basically pitch black on the court and Fognini wanted to come back and finish the match tomorrow, but Monfils wanted to play on and he got the crowd behind him and the referee eventually relented and allowed the match to continue. To make matters worse, Fognini actually started the next match 0-15 down because he was deemed to be delaying play by protesting against the decision to carry on. Despite all this, Fognini made it 5-4 and had match points in the next game, before Monfils somehow managed to level things again at 5-5. Thankfully the referee then called it a day after that and they will return tomorrow to finish the match. There were no other matches in progress by the time it finished at 22:00 local time and Andy Murray had been off for about 30 minutes by the time that match eventually stopped.

There is absolutely no way that the referee should have allowed pressure from the crowd, and Monfils, to influence his decision. If he thought it was too dark to continue, which he clearly did, he should have stuck to his guns and called a halt to the proceedings there and then. It's true what the commentators were saying, you wouldn't even allow a club match to be played in those sort of conditions, so for a Grand Slam match to be played when it's completely dark is just disgraceful and just throws the whole tournament into a farce.

In other news, Roger Federer is safely through to round three after overcoming an early scare. His opponent, Alejandro Falla, served for the first set at 6-5 after Federer had made 21 unforced errors in the early stages. However, he managed to get it together at the right time and won the first set in a tie-break and never really looked back. He eventually won 7-6 6-2 6-4 and will now play unknown German, Julian Reister, in round three. Other top seeds, Robin Soderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic also sealed their places in round three with straightforward victories.

[HibbyAndy]

Murray is looking good in his second round match against Chela, although he wasn't able to complete his match due to bad light.

He leads 6-2 3-3, going into tomorrow, when the match will be played to a finish.

It was completely farcical in another match though. In the Gael Monfils-Fabio Fognini match, the referee stepped in at around 21:30 (French time) to call an end to the day's play when it was 4-4 in the fifth and final set. It was basically pitch black on the court and Fognini wanted to come back and finish the match tomorrow, but Monfils wanted to play on and he got the crowd behind him and the referee eventually relented and allowed the match to continue. To make matters worse, Fognini actually started the next match 0-15 down because he was deemed to be delaying play by protesting against the decision to carry on. Despite all this, Fognini made it 5-4 and had match points in the next game, before Monfils somehow managed to level things again at 5-5. Thankfully the referee then called it a day after that and they will return tomorrow to finish the match. There were no other matches in progress by the time it finished at 22:00 local time and Andy Murray had been off for about 30 minutes by the time that match eventually stopped.

There is absolutely no way that the referee should have allowed pressure from the crowd, and Monfils, to influence his decision. If he thought it was too dark to continue, which he clearly did, he should have stuck to his guns and called a halt to the proceedings there and then. It's true what the commentators were saying, you wouldn't even allow a club match to be played in those sort of conditions, so for a Grand Slam match to be played when it's completely dark is just disgraceful and just throws the whole tournament into a farce.

In other news, Roger Federer is safely through to round three after overcoming an early scare. His opponent, Alejandro Falla, served for the first set at 6-5 after Federer had made 21 unforced errors in the early stages. However, he managed to get it together at the right time and won the first set in a tie-break and never really looked back. He eventually won 7-6 6-2 6-4 and will now play unknown German, Julian Reister, in round three. Other top seeds, Robin Soderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic also sealed their places in round three with straightforward victories.

Nice updates mate :aok:

Much appreciated.:agree:

[Sir David Gray]

There was a major shock at the French Open tonight - Roger Federer is out and may now lose his number one spot as a result of this defeat.

He lost to Robin Soderling, who had failed to beat Federer in 12 previous meetings and actually lost to him in last year's final.

It looked as if it was going to be unlucky 13 for Soderling as Federer comfortably won the opening set 6-3. However Soderling fought back and took the second set 6-3. Federer then had a set point at 4-5 on the Soderling serve but the Swede won one of the best points of the year to keep Federer at bay and he eventually held onto his serve to level it at 5-5 before the rain came and forced the players off.

When they returned, Soderling stepped it up and eventually won the third set 7-5. Soderling then went on to win the match by taking set four 6-4.

The result brings an end to Federer's amazing run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, which dates back to the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. It is a record that will surely not be matched or beaten for many years.

If Rafael Nadal beats Nicolas Almagro tomorrow, he will take back the top spot in the world rankings for the first time in almost a year.

Andy Murray's conquerer in the last round, Tomas Berdych, had another impressive victory with a straight sets win over Mikhail Youzhny. He will now play Robin Soderling in the semis.

Just a final word on Andy Murray as I was away over the weekend when his defeat came. I wasn't surprised at his defeat to Berdych but it was the manner of the defeat that I thought was worrying. He seemed completely lost on the court and was totally overpowered by Berdych. He has to change his style of play if he wants to win a Major. OK, he can argue that he isn't suited to winning the French Open but he shouldn't be beaten like that by a player like Tomas Berdych.

The decline in Murray, bar the odd match here and there, since he lost the Australian Open Final in January, has been extremely concerning as he has lost to players that he simply should not be losing to.

In his next tournament after Australia, he lost to Janko Tipsarevic in Dubai in the second round. At the Miami Masters, he lost to Mardy Fish, also in the second round. At the Monte Carlo Masters, he had possibly his worst defeat of the year against Philipp Kohlschreiber as he went down 6-2 6-1. In the two tournaments before the French Open, he lost twice to David Ferrer, both in straight sets.

In the seven tournaments that he has played since the Australian Open, Murray has only won ten matches. That is a very bad statistic for someone who is number four in the world and if he wants to achieve something in the game, he'll need to bring that run to an end sooner rather than later.

The grass court season begins next week with the start of Queen's and Murray goes into that as the defending champion. He'll want to do well there as he goes into Wimbledon and, at the very least, he will want to match last year's effort when he reached the semi finals.

[Sir David Gray]

There was a shocking result today in the French Open as Novak Djokovic lost a two set lead against Austrian Jurgen Melzer and exited the tournament at the Quarter Final stage.

It's the first time that an Austrian male has reached a Grand Slam semi final since Thomas Muster reached the last four at the Australian Open in 1997.

He will now play Rafael Nadal as he saw off Nicolas Almagro in straight sets.

The men's semi final draw is;

Robin Soderling v Tomas Berdych
Rafael Nadal v Jurgen Melzer

There was also a shock in the women's draw as Serena Williams was beaten by Australian Sam Stosur in three sets. Stosur won the opening set and was a break up in the second set before Williams fought back to win the tie-break. However, Stosur managed to get things together as she took the decisive set 8-6.

She will now play Jelena Jankovic in the last four.

[PatHead]

Was in Paris yesterday to watch tennis. Had never been to a large tournament before and I must admit it was very impressive. Managed to see Guy Forget, Henri Laconte in one highly entertaining game with lots of banter, John McEnroe played Pat Cash in Senior doubles and thrashed him 6-0,6-1. Nae messin with Mac who was there to win.

Followed this up with ladies quarter final which Janovic won with more difficulty than straight sets suggests. Finally had the pleasure to be there with Djokovic's marathon defeat by Melter. What a game! I was knackered watching it so god knows how tired they must have been.

The point of my reply wasn't to brag but I was told it is much easier to get tickets for French than Wimbledon. My sister in law who works for BNP Bank (the main sponsor) got them by buying a combined ticket for French Open and Paris Masters Final which is played in November. They plan to go to that themselves.

Tip though- take suncream and you won't look like a beetroot the next day!

[Sir David Gray]

Was in Paris yesterday to watch tennis. Had never been to a large tournament before and I must admit it was very impressive. Managed to see Guy Forget, Henri Laconte in one highly entertaining game with lots of banter, John McEnroe played Pat Cash in Senior doubles and thrashed him 6-0,6-1. Nae messin with Mac who was there to win.

Followed this up with ladies quarter final which Janovic won with more difficulty than straight sets suggests. Finally had the pleasure to be there with Djokovic's marathon defeat by Melter. What a game! I was knackered watching it so god knows how tired they must have been.

The point of my reply wasn't to brag but I was told it is much easier to get tickets for French than Wimbledon. My sister in law who works for BNP Bank (the main sponsor) got them by buying a combined ticket for French Open and Paris Masters Final which is played in November. They plan to go to that themselves.

Tip though- take suncream and you won't look like a beetroot the next day!

It must have been great to have been at the Djokovic match, you don't see that kind of comeback very often, particularly when it's a lower ranked player coming back against a top seed.

I can't comment on how easy it is to get a ticket for the French Open and I don't know how the process of obtaining a ticket works.

All I do know is that, for Wimbledon, there is a public ballot run by the All England Lawn Tennis Club that anyone can apply to be in. It doesn't guarantee you a ticket though.

Other ways to get tickets are if you are a member of a tennis club in the UK or if you are a member of another tennis related association. As far as I'm aware, your chances of getting a ticket at some point over the two weeks are fairly high.

[PatHead]

Thanks for info. Will give it a try for next year. Must dash finishing early to try and catch some of the semis.

[HibbyAndy]

Nadal vrs Soderling final.


No dange the only ever man to beat Rafa at the French open will strike again.


Mon the Nadal camp :cool2:

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal vrs Soderling final.


No dange the only ever man to beat Rafa at the French open will strike again.


Mon the Nadal camp :cool2:

I've nothing against Nadal but I'd like to see Soderling win it. He has done really well over the past year or so and I think it would be good if he could cap it all off with a Grand Slam title.

I can't see it happening though.

Rafael Nadal is probably the greatest clay court player of all time and, if he's fit, he is practically unbeatable on that surface.

Practically...:cool2:

[Sir David Gray]

First set to Nadal, 6-4.

Soderling's doing ok but Rafa just doesn't miss, especially on a clay court. He just makes his opponent do so much, just to win a single point.

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal has just broken to go 3-2 up in the second set.

Soderling had a break point at 1-0 up when Nadal won an absolutely breathtaking point and he went on to win the game. It must be so disheartening for an opponent to play against that.

It's actually like you're playing squash whenever you come up against Nadal because the ball just always comes back.

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal takes the second set 6-2.

I think Soderling's resolve has now been broken and Nadal has started to get inside his head a bit.

The match is pretty much over as a contest.

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal wins 6-4 6-2 6-4.

Soderling didn't do an awful lot wrong and I think the way he played today would have been good enough to beat most players in the world.

He just came up against a player in Nadal who put in a truly world class performance, pretty much all the way through.

He won that tournament without dropping a single set and although he's done it before, that is an amazing thing to achieve.

[lyonhibs]

Is there really much point in anyone else even turning up to Roland Garros.

If Rafa Nadal is fit and in the mood, he'll win the next 3 or 4 easily IMO.

He's absolutely imperious on clay - totally untouchable.

[Sir David Gray]

Is there really much point in anyone else even turning up to Roland Garros.

If Rafa Nadal is fit and in the mood, he'll win the next 3 or 4 easily IMO.

He's absolutely imperious on clay - totally untouchable.

Absolutely.

I said just after he won that match that there are only two things that will prevent him from winning 10 or 11 French Open titles and they are injuries (like last year) and loss of appetite for the sport.

Going by his reaction to winning today's match, I find it highly unlikely that Nadal will lose his hunger any time soon as he just loves winning tennis matches - it's what he lives for.

Obviously he can't do an awful lot about injuries and I just hope he can keep himself fit because he deserves every success that he gets because he is a fantastic champion.

There is absolutely no question that he will go down as one of the all-time greats.