The days go by and look the same for the French at the start of Roland-Garros. Many fell by the wayside on the third day of the French Open, Tuesday 1er June. But the courageous victories of Gaël Montfils and Fiona Ferro give some morale to the French camp.
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Gaël Monfils never dies
Carried by the public of the Suzanne-Lenglen court, the French Gaël Monfils won and will see the second round of the French Open. He fought a fierce battle against the Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas to win in four sets (1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-4). Monfils won in three hours after an intense match.
Inconstant in the first set, dropped in twenty-three minutes, he gradually entered the match to never come out. His opponent has yet come to one point of taking the advantage two sets to zero, when he led 6 points to 5 in the decisive game.
This meeting was a test for the Frenchman, who arrived without a landmark at Porte d’Auteuil. The experienced Spaniard (33) is a clay court specialist. Classified at 38e World rank, Ramos-Vinolas is the player who has won the most games on this surface since the start of the season, with the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the Argentinian Federico Delbonis.
Gaël Monfils, he occupies the 14e rank at ATP. But this classification, frozen for a long time because of the pandemic, is not very significant. Short of confidence and preparation, “the Monf” had been in great difficulty for eight months. He arrived at Roland Garros with only one victory on the clock in 2021 for four defeats.
“A big thank you, it feels really good, it’s thanks to you (the audience). Very slow start on my part, worse than a diesel, a lot of stress. Last year, without you, I would have lost this match ”, declared Gaël Monfils after the meeting. He will meet in the second round the Swede Mikael Ymer (105e at ATP). He is only the second Frenchman to cross the first round, after Enzo Couacaud, beneficiary of an invitation.
Successful entry into the running for Djokovic
Novak Djokovic made his entry into the competition at Roland Garros by quietly eliminating the robust American Tennys Sandgren (66e world) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in less than two hours, in the deafening camera of the night session.
“I am honored to have played the first men’s game in the night session in the history of Roland-Garros. It was very strange to play in front of these empty stands and in this really very intense light. I hope to have an audience for my next match ”, commented the world number 1, who is aiming for a 19e Grand Slam title to go back on the record of his great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (20). This next match will be Thursday against the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas (92e).
Sandgren was turned off by the Serbian, visibly well prepared after his victory in Belgrade last Saturday. “I am very happy with the way I played tonight”, admitted Djokovic who, unlike most contenders for the Parisian title, played in tournament last week. These last months, “The tournaments took place in sanitary bubbles. But last week [à Belgrade], for the first time we had the opportunity to play free, at our own risk. I felt very good. I did not lose too much energy, on the contrary I stored it “, he warned.
Novak Djokovic also on Tuesday supported Naomi Osaka, who withdrew from Roland Garros after a controversy over her refusal to participate in press conferences to preserve herself mentally, believing that she was “Very courageous”.
Fiona Ferro in pain, Kristina Mladenovic without trembling
It took 1 hour 41 minutes for Fiona Ferro, eighth-finalist at the last Roland Garros, to come out against Liang En-Shuo. Out of qualifying, the young Taiwanese missed her first set by chaining faults (6-1). In an unexpected turnaround, however, it was Ferro who lost his tennis and multiplied unforced errors in the second round, to the point of being broken three times and conceding a severe 1-6.
Emboldened, Liang continued to hamper, in the last set, the French number one (49e in the WTA standings), which was broken and led 2-3. But Ferro, helped by a solid backhand, reacted immediately and won two of Liang’s last three serves, eventually winning the third set 6-4. It’ll take more to get American Jennifer Brady out, 14e world, in the next round.
Kristina Mladenovic also passed the first round by winning (6-4, 6-0) against the Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who, in the fall of 2020, had knocked down the American Venus Williams and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
Ugo Humbert can’t do it
Big disappointment for the French Ugo Humbert, seeded number 29, who still does not succeed on clay, a surface which he says he nevertheless appreciates. The one who caused a sensation in February, obtaining two match points against the Australian Nick Kyrgios in Melbourne, lost on Tuesday against the modest Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis (93e) in four sets (6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4).
Irregular in service (14 aces, 6 double faults, 5 breaks conceded), multiplying unforced errors (48 in total), Humbert was far too imprecise and inconstant to hope to win this match.
Despite a burst of pride at 3e set, Messin failed to reverse the trend. At 22, he still hasn’t won a single match at Roland Garros. He joined the large contingent of the Blues eliminated in the first round.
Adrian Mannarino without solution
For the ninth time in twelve participations, Adrian Mannarino leaves Roland-Garros in the first round. Defeated in four sets by Slovenian Aljaz Bedene (56e in the ATP ranking), at his ease on clay, the left-hander never seemed to be able to tip the match, despite a serious second round (3-6) where his opponent weakened in service.
Mannarino hung on, made the fight last in the first three sets played, before cracking in a last round (3-2), where he weakened physically.
Nadal without incident, it’s already over for Andrey Rublev and Carla Suarez
Rafael Nadal, thirteen times victorious at Roland Garros, succeeded in entering the running on Tuesday by dominating the Australian Alexeï Popyrin (63e) in 2:23 and in three sets, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3). “It was a very difficult game, against a very good player, nevertheless explained the Spaniard. The start of the match was very hard, he was putting bombs everywhere. The speed of his ball is incredible, with each strike he tries to make it move as fast as possible. “
Alexeï Popyrin especially hung his opponent in the third set, obtaining a first break point at 2-1, without being able to transform it. Then he got two at 3-2 and this time he converted the second to break away 4-2 and 5-2, confirming his face-off. He then got two balls of set to 5-3 on his serve. But he forced his game, his strikes and ultimately lost not only his two chances, but also his serve game.
Popyrin then found himself again under enormous pressure from the Spaniard, who obtained four break points at 5-5. But the Australian did not crack and forced Nadal to serve to push the set in the decisive game. What he did. The tie break was a one-way street.
In the next round, Rafael Nadal will face Frenchman Richard Gasquet (53e).
The world number 7, Andrey Rublev, was eliminated in the first round by the German Jan-Lennard Struff (6-3, 7-6 [6], 4-6, 3-6, 6-4). After being led by two sets to nothing, the Russian, who appeared to be a possible outsider in the tournament, came back to equality before giving in to 42e world player (6-3, 7-6 [6], 4-6, 3-6, 6-4).
And for her last Roland-Garros, Carla Suarez will only have held one round. Despite great resistance, the Spaniard, back to competition after beating cancer, was eliminated by the American Sloane Stephens (59e), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) 6-4. Former world number six, dropped to 118e place, however, will have taken advantage of the many unforced errors (54) of the American to pocket the first set, before serving to win the match in the second set at 5-4.
But Suarez ended up giving in the last set against Stephens, former finalist in Paris and winner of the US Open 2017. His farewell to Roland-Garros, thirteen years after his first appearance, was therefore done in the anonymity of the Parisian night on a Simonne-Mathieu court deprived of the public due to a curfew. She will nevertheless have left the court under the applause of her opponent and the few people still present. Sloane Stephens continues on her way to Roland-Garros. In the next round, she will face seeded Karolina Pliskova.
