French Open Day 1: Ivanovic Advances, Hewitt Beats Karlovic, Mauresmo Bounced by Nadya Vlassoff
After all the anticipation and the hype, the starting half of the first round matches at Roland Garros took place on Sunday. A few big names and veterans took to the courts to vie for one of the most elite trophies on tour and the first day of the French Open was not without surprises.
Leyton Hewitt, a former Wimbledon champion, who has been battling a hip injury for some time now was in for one of the first matches of the day, as he took on the towering Ivo Karlovic. With an impressive 55 aces in the match, it was Karlovic who looked unstoppable as he won the first two sets but was unable to maintain his fitness level throughout the match. As Karlovic tired, Hewitt took advantage and managed to hold on for 5 sets as he ultimately took the match after barely being able to return serve in the first two sets of the match. Although Karlovic set the record for aces in a match, it was of little help in swallowing the most disappointing loss of the season for him to date. Leyton Hewitt goes on to the second round in surprising fashion and will hopefully take away more than just luck from his first round match.
In other play, French veteran and two time Grand Slam champion, Amelie Mauresmo
was bounced in the first round by an unseeded
qualifier in straight sets while the 19th seed
Kaia Kanepi also lost in straight sets. However,
it wasn’t all bad news for the seeded players
on the WTA tour, as Ana Ivanovic brushed off
some serious rust in a match not becoming of
her returning champion status at Roland Garros,
beating Sara Errani. Although the match was
not the best for Ivanovic she was lucky to have
made it through and hopefully she can improve
her vulnerable serve to make it back into the
second week.
Andy Murray and Marat Safin both made it through the first day in straight sets although it will be the last time that Safin graces the grounds at Roland Garros. After 12 years on tour and two Slam titles, Safin is no stranger to victory, but he has had some troublesome years and has never made it past the semi-finals at Roland Garros. Does that take away from his greatness? Certainly not since it was Safin who blew Roger Federer off the court in 2005 at the Australian Open final to win his second Grand Slam title.
Gilles Simon, Fernando Verdasco, Marin Cilic, David Ferrer, all in seeded order, won their matches to make it into the second round while Victoria Azarenka, Nadia Petrova and Na Li also won their first round French Open matches. For Li this is only the beginning in her hope to return to being the highest-ranking, female Chinese player. That honor now rests in her compatriot Jie Zheng. Azarenka continues her winning ways with the hope of improving her game on clay in order to play her best against the WTA tour’s premiere players. Petrova, always a competitive player who has often been hampered by a temperamental mental game is looking to perhaps walk away with her first Slam title in her career.
Day 2 of the French Open is already in full swing and players like Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina are looking to defend their #1 rankings as the rest of the field waits for their chance to dethrone the current tennis hierarchy. In the tennis world, all is fair in love and war until you are the one losing at love.
