Roland Garros Day 2 – Serena Williams Overcomes a Slow Start to Advance, Nadal, Djokovic and Thiem Advance
(May 27, 2019) No. 10 seed and former champion Serena Williams had rebound from an error-filled opening set to beat No. 83 Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 in her opening match at Roland Garros. The American closed the match by taking 12 out of the last 13 games to advance to the second round.
“I just got nervous out there and I stopped moving my feet. And was, like, concrete blocks on my feet. I was like, ‘You got to do something,’” Williams said after the match. “I was just off, basically. And then instead of correcting it, I just kept getting worse.”
While Williams corrected her mistakes to win, good friend and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, could not hold on for a win after an almost perfect first set, falling to Paris Open debutante, No. 86 in the world Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Russian hit 40 winner to Wozniakci’s 15.
The No.13 seed, suffered opening round losses leading into Paris in Madrid and Rome. Back in October the Dane announced that she has rheumatoid arthritis.
“Definitely wasn’t the best match I’ve ever played,” said the Dane.
“I played really well in the first set. I played aggressive. I played the way I wanted to play. And then I think she got very lucky at the start of the second set and took advantage of the opportunities she got,” Wozniacki said. “And then I think I just lost a little steam in the end.”
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the sixth seed, announced on her Twitter that she was withdrawing from the French Open with an injured left forearm.
Sorry to have to inform you of some bad news this morning pic.twitter.com/snxhJkPRuh
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) May 27, 2019
In another women’s upset, No. 18 women’s seed Julia Goerges of Germany lost 7-5, 6-1 by Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who seems to make a habit of knocking out seeds at major tournaments.
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal had no problems in their opening matches in Paris. Top seed Djokovic has now won 22 straight matches at majors, with his 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over world No. 44 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Should he win his second French Open title, he will have won four majors in a row for a second time dating back to last year’s Wimbledon. He last won a “Nole” Slam 2015-16.
“I like the fact that I had a very good, quality opponent in the first round, because that gets me going with the right intensity from the start,” Djokovi9c said. “I’m focused, I’m determined, and sharp from the blocks,” Djokovic said. “Even though I never played him, never faced him in official match, I still felt he can be a great threat if I allow him to play his tennis. So I actually thought I played well. All the elements in my game worked well, so I’m very pleased.”
Nadal, attempting to win a 12th Roland Garros title,the Spaniard topped 184th-ranked German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
“I did not make many mistakes, being very solid all the time,” Nadal said. “Happy to be through to the second round, and that’s the main thing today in straight sets, positive feelings. Every year is a new challenge and today I was able to win the first challenge, and after tomorrow I am going to have the second challenge.”
Nadal’s win was his 87th at Roland Garros.
Fourth seed Dominic Thiem overcame a 4-0 deficit in the third set tiebreak to hold off American Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2. The American Paul won Junior Roland Garros back in 2015.
The Austrian said that this was not an easy match. “I wasn’t playing my best today, that’s for sure. But, I mean, we all could see what happens if I don’t play my best tennis. He was playing amazing then. It was very, very close. And of course the key moment of the match was the tie-break in the third set.”
He was considered dark horse for the title, No. 12 Daniil Medvedev, lost 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. On Sunday Herbert’s former doubles partner Nicolas Mahut also won coming back from two sets down.
No. 32 seed Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. has still not made past the first round of Paris. The Australian Open quarterfinalist, threw up a couple of times and he lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to Filip Krajinovic of Serbia.
“Throwing up during the match isn’t something that normally happens to me … I threw up again when I went to the locker room after the third set,” he said. The fifth-set result obviously came to that because (I) was obviously very depleted and had nothing really in me. It was tough to end like that.”
RESULTS – MAY 27, 2019
Women’s Singles – First Round
[4] K. Bertens (NED) d P. Parmentier (FRA) 63 64
[8] A. Barty (AUS) d J. Pegula (USA) 63 63
[10] S. Williams (USA) d V. Diatchenko (RUS) 26 61 60
[12] A. Sevastova (LAT) d L. Kumkhum (THA) 61 64
V. Kudermetova (RUS) d [13] C. Wozniacki (DEN) 06 63 63
K. Kanepi (EST) d [18] J. Goerges (GER) 75 61
[20] E. Mertens (BEL) d T. Zidansek (SLO) 64 36 62
[23] D. Vekic (CRO) d L. Samsonova (RUS) 62 64
[25] SW. Hseih (TPE) d V. Golubic (SUI) 64 36 60
[26] J. Konta (GBR) d A. Lottner (GER) 64 64
[28] C. Suarez Navarro (ESP) d D. Yastremska (UKR) 26 76(0) 60
E. Alexandrova (RUS) d [30] M. Buzarnescu (ROU) 64 64
P. Hercog (SLO) d [32] A. Sasnovich (BLR) 46 62 86
S. Cirstea (ROU) d K. Juvan (SLO) 57 64 75
V. Kuzmova (SVK) d A. Cornet (FRA) 64 63
S. Stosur (AUS) d B. Strycova (CZE) 62 76(3)
Z. Diyas (KAZ) d [W] A. Albie (FRA) 62 62
J. Brady (USA) d I. Jorovic (SRB) 76(5) 46 75
S. Zhang (CHN) d V. Lepchenko (USA) 61 61
[W] L. Davis (USA) d Kr. Pliskova (CZE) 62 64
M. Minella (LUX) d A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 64 62
S. Kenin (USA) d G. Gatto-Monticone (ITA) 63 57 62
[W] D. Parry (FRA) d V. Lapko (BLR) 62 64
R. Peterson (SWE) d Y. Putintseva (KAZ) 63 75
D. Collins (USA) d T. Maria (GER) 60 62
A. Petkovic (GER) d A. Riske (USA) 26 63 75
S. Rogers (USA) d A.Sharma (AUS) 63 63
[Q] A. Bolsova (ESP) d V. Zvonareva (RUS) 64 62
Men’s Singles – First Round
[1] N. Djokovic d H. Hurkacz 64 62 62
[2] R. Nadal d Y. Hanfmann 62 61 63
[4] D. Thiem d T. Paul 64 46 76(5) 62
Pierre-Hugues Herbert d [12] D. Medvedev 46 46 63 62 75
[13]B. Coric d A. Bedene 61 67(4) 64 64
Juan Ignacio Londero d [15] N. Basilashvili 64 61 63
[19] Guido Pella d Guido Andreozzi 76(2) 64 16 61
Jan-Lennard Struff d [20] D. Shapovalov 76(1) 63 64
[21] A. de Minaur d B. Klahn 61 64 64
[24] S. Wawrinka d J. Kovalik 61 67(3) 62 63
[26] G. Simon d S. Stakhovsky 63 63 64
F. Krajinovic d [32] F. Tiafoe 62 46 63 36 60
R. Albot d T. Sandgren 76(3) 76(1) 36 61
A. Bublik d R. Molleker 75 67(4) 61 76(2)
Roberto Carballes Baena d A. Muller 64 64 62
Pablo Carreno Busta d Joao Sousa 63 61 62
S. Caruso d J. Munar 75 46 63 63
P. Cuevas d M. Janvier 64 64 62
C. Garin d R. Opelka 76(0) 75 76(7)
R. Gasquet d M. Zverev 63 64 63
L.Harris d L. Rosol 61 46 26 61 62
M. Kecmanovic d D. Kudla 60 67(9) 57 63 64
H. Laaksonen d P. Martinez 61 60 764
