Paris is soaking

…while some left the courts high and dry. Federer decided to go for a short day at the office. Qurrey wasn’t supposed to be a big threat, but made a name of himself with the QF in Monte-Carlo.  Not important… bottom line is he is through. Gonzo and Serra are also through in that same quarter, while Starace was stunned by a player form ESP who I’ve never heard of. Andujar?? Qualifier… we’ll see him against Gonzo.

The only guy through in the 2ns quarter was Robredo who played a good match against RG finalist Coria. Coria played great tennis for 1,5 sets and was a real threat throughout the entire thing, but Robredo seemed to know how to deal with Coria’s short moments of magic. Great clay court tennis!

Nadal was due to play, but the stupid weather had to start early this year. All of western Europe is under some clouds and I believe will be tomrrow as well.

Anyway… here are some notes on Day 2:
– Gasquet pulled out of RG because of a knee injury. Something smells bad here!
– Bolelli toppled Baghdatis in straight sets and with ease. What’s going on with Baggy?
– Wayne Odesnik (USA) def. Canas (red clay ARG) 7-6, 7-6, 7-6!!! USA has already passed last year’s brilliant 0-9 performance. or was it 0-11?
– Verdasco, who I predicted could go far, needed 5 tiring sets against Ventura. Who?
– Weather forecast for Tuesday: 21C (70F) and PM rain. A repeat of today?

 

Farewell Guga

Kuerten has said goodbye on a number of occasions this year, but French Open was somewhat more special. He definetely will be remembered as the star of of tennis during the turn of the century and millenium, where he won here in Paris three times. Yesterday he had to say goodbye to a crowd who probably came to see him play, and not Mathieu. Mathieu was able to look away from that and beat Kuerten i 3 and sent him to retirement.

In addition, Djokovic struggled against Gremelmayr for some time, but was able to end it in 4 sets. I don’t think there too much to it. Gremelmayr knew that his task was close to impossible and did what an underdog should do, just go for it! He tried to take the ball early and not allow Djokovic in the play, which for a set and a half worked ok. But number of unforced started to explode and Djokovic was able to take over completely.

Today, Nadal and Federer are in action. I didn’t know this was even possible, but Federer will play on Lenglen, which isn’t the center court! Has he been downgraded?! I thought he ALWAYS gets the center court. It will also be interesting to see if Gasquet is able to win A match. He will play his countryman Serra. I assume Serra is very ready for the task of beating a top 10 player with a 10-10 record this year. This match is wide open.