Bracket Busters
In a shock upset, Simona Halep—one of the tournament favorites—was handily beaten by Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Lucic-Baroni—who had her first top 100 finish in 15 years after taking time away from the game—also beat Halep in last year's US Open and now leads their head-to-head 2-0. In a minor upset, 32nd seeded Fernando Verdasco lost to fellow veteran Benjamin Becker. Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who was quietly seeded 19th, was ousted by Lukas Rosol while the always mercurial Ernests Gulbis was beaten by hometown favorite Nicolas Mahut. Unfortunately for Gulbis, he was defending a semifinal appearance from last year and doesn't have many other points to his name, so expect his ranking to drop steeply. Sadly, the tournament also said goodbye to the ever interesting Fabio Fognini.
Speaking of Simona Halep
Her departure from the tournament leaves a gaping hole in that quarter of the draw. The highest remaining seed is Ana Ivanovic at #7, but she's hardly had a banner year and struggled in her second round match. Ekaterina Makarova, seeded 9th is also in this quarter along with 29th seeded Alize Cornet and surging youngster Donna Vekic.
The Federer… Two-Handed Backhand
During Roger Federer's straight sets win over Marcel Granollers, the Swiss maestro uncorked a two-handed backhand lob, followed—of course—by a perfect one-hander up the line for the winner.
https://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/603537064949198852
Sweet 700
On Tuesday we celebrated David Ferrer reaching 300 wins on clay and yesterday another player reached a major milestone. Doubles standout Leander Paes recorded his 700th doubles win, becoming the eighth player to do so. He joins Daniel Nestor, Mike Bryan, Bob Bryan, Todd Woodbridge, Mark Knowles, Sherwood Stewart and Jonas Bjorkman. Paes has 55 doubles titles, including a haul of Slam trophies and an Olympic bronze in singles.
Loose Ends
Gilles Muller and Paolo Lorenzi completed the last remaining first round match early yesterday, after play was Tuesday evening due to darkness. Muller recorded the win in five sets and moves into the second round at Roland Garros for just the second time.
Take a look at the tennis racquets, tennis shoes and clothing worn by the top players at the 2015 French Open!
French Open 2015 Highlights du Jour Day 4
