Rafael Nadal clinched a record-tying sixth French Open tennis title by beating Roger Federer today, a victory that preserves the Spaniard’s No. 1 ranking.
The left-hander sank to his knees after retaining his crown by defeating the Swiss 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-1 in Paris. His victory ties him with Sweden ’s Bjorn Borg, who won six Roland Garros trophies from 1974 to 1981. Nadal received the Coupe des Mousquetaires from two-time champion Jim Courier .
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Showing posts with label french open. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french open. Show all posts
Schiavone survives scare to reach semis
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone dug herself out of a huge hole to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 7-5 7-5 and reach the semi-finals of the French Open.
The fifth seed looked to be heading out of the tournament when she trailed 4-1 in the second set but Schiavone is certainly a fighter and she gradually reeled Pavlyuchenkova back in.
A couple of superb one-handed backhands enabled the Italian to break for a 6-5 lead in the second set and from there it seemed there was only going to be one winner.
Pavlyuchenkova, the world's best teenager at 15th in the rankings, had knocked out third seed Vera Zvonareva to reach the last eight at a grand slam for the first time in her career.
The Russian continued to fight hard but her chances looked slim at best when Schiavone moved into a 5-1 lead.
There was another twist to come, though, as Pavlyuchenkova defied her flagging fortunes to win three games in succession. She then created two break points when Schiavone served for the match for a second time, taking the second with a mis-hit return.
From 5-5, though, the Russian faltered again, losing her serve and then finally succumbing as Schiavone served out for a place in the last four against either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Marion Bartoli.
Schiavone felt her extra experience had helped her against such a young opponent, saying: ‘The more I play, the better I play. That's always been the case. I started much too slowly. But by the end I felt much better and I could play better tennis.
‘She played really well but maybe she has less experience than me. Today I think I used my 30 years.’
The expressive Italian was a hugely popular winner when she beat Samantha Stosur last year and she delighted Court Philippe Chatrier again today.
She said: ‘I love tennis when I can express myself. I am transparent, so you can understand how I play and how I feel. Maybe I shouldn't show so much. I am like this on the court and off it.
‘I was 6-1 4-1 down and I was saying, “Francie, this is the way things go. Today it is like this. Keep going”. I was really sad inside, but what can you do? Nobody could change things except me.’
Schiavone's fightback continued a theme at Roland Garros this year, with Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Vera Zvonareva all winning matches they looked favourites to lose while Kim Clijsters blew a big lead against Arantxa Rus.
The Italian gave credit to the surface, saying: ‘Clay always gives you a chance. Grass and hard courts, much less so. On clay you have to go to the net and shake hands before you can say the match is finished.’
Pavlyuchenkova, 19, admitted the situation got to her and praised Schiavone for her comeback.
‘It was very tough match and it's very difficult to lose this kind of match,’ said the Russian.
‘I'll just try to move on and I will try to take all the positive things. It's very good experience. It's my first quarter-final and it's never easy to play a good game and to win easily in the quarter-finals, especially against Francesca. She was really great today.’
Clijsters stunned in second round of French Open
PARIS (AP) -- There were plenty of excuses available for Kim Clijsters after a stunning collapse in the second round of the French Open against a woman ranked 114th.
In assessing her 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands on Thursday, the second-seeded Clijsters could have pointed to her heavily taped right ankle, which she hurt while dancing barefoot at her cousin's wedding last month.
In recounting how she managed to waste two match points and drop 11 of the last 12 games after leading 5-2 in the second set, the Belgian could have mentioned that she last entered the French Open in 2006, and had played a total of five clay-court matches anywhere since.
And in explaining her 65 unforced errors - 43 more than her opponent made - and 10 double-faults, Clijsters could have reminded everyone that she hadn't competed at all since late March because of that bum ankle and previous injuries to her right shoulder and wrist.
Instead, the winner of the last two Grand Slam titles, and four overall, pointed a finger squarely at herself and an odd crisis of confidence.
The 27-year-old Clijsters also gave credit to the 20-year-old Rus, who entered the day with a 3-4 career record in major tournaments and only twice before had been to Court Philippe Chatrier - and those visits were as a spectator.
After delivering one of the most surprising tennis results in recent years, Rus acknowledged she was nervous at the outset, perhaps because Clijsters is one of her favorite players, someone she used to cheer for when watching on TV.
She said she had trouble dealing with wind that gusted at upward of 20 mph, making the balls move unexpectedly at times and occasionally kicking up clouds of loose clay into players' eyes.
Those conditions led to this bon mot from Rafael Nadal: "If you play good, seems like much less wind. If you are playing bad, seems like a hurricane.''
The five-time French Open champion wasn't forced to work nearly as hard as he did in getting past John Isner in five sets Tuesday, but Nadal was hardly satisfied after beating 48th-ranked Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
He needed to erase eight set points after trailing 5-1 in the third against Andujar, who said he thinks Nadal is "going through perhaps a period of doubt.''
Also reaching the third round were past Grand Slam finalists Robin Soderling and Andy Murray, along with No. 10 Mardy Fish, the last U.S. man in the field. Six seeded men lost: No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, No. 20 Florian Mayer of Germany, No. 24 Sam Querrey of the U.S., No. 27 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, No. 28 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and No. 32 Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Davydenko, a French Open semifinalist in 2005 and 2007, was beaten in five sets by Antonio Veic of Croatia, a qualifier ranked 227th whose reward is a third-round match against Nadal.
Garcia was the youngest and, at 188th, lowest-ranked woman left, and was playing in only the second tour-level event of her nascent career.
Many expect great things from her, including Murray, who after beating Simone Bolelli 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-5, took to Twitter and wrote, "Girl sharapova is playing is going to be No.1 in world one day caroline garcia, what a player u heard it here 1st.''
Sharapova's take? "She's on her way up, definitely.''
Actually, Garcia looked like the poised veteran early, taking the first set and a 4-1 lead in the second, buoyed by a partisan crowd that roared with approval after her 17 groundstroke winners, seven more than Sharapova accumulated.
But during a changeover, spectators raised a ruckus by doing the wave, and Garcia acknowledged later that flustered her a bit.
"I had many things going in my head, because I was leading. I was playing well. She was not really in the court,'' said Garcia, who now will play in the junior tournament. "And then she reacted just like a champion, because she is a great champion.''
The French Open is the one major title Sharapova doesn't own, but she and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the only women with multiple Grand Slam trophies who are still around. That's because the Williams sisters didn't enter the French Open - and because Clijsters already is unexpectedly headed home.
In assessing her 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands on Thursday, the second-seeded Clijsters could have pointed to her heavily taped right ankle, which she hurt while dancing barefoot at her cousin's wedding last month.
In recounting how she managed to waste two match points and drop 11 of the last 12 games after leading 5-2 in the second set, the Belgian could have mentioned that she last entered the French Open in 2006, and had played a total of five clay-court matches anywhere since.
And in explaining her 65 unforced errors - 43 more than her opponent made - and 10 double-faults, Clijsters could have reminded everyone that she hadn't competed at all since late March because of that bum ankle and previous injuries to her right shoulder and wrist.
Instead, the winner of the last two Grand Slam titles, and four overall, pointed a finger squarely at herself and an odd crisis of confidence.
The 27-year-old Clijsters also gave credit to the 20-year-old Rus, who entered the day with a 3-4 career record in major tournaments and only twice before had been to Court Philippe Chatrier - and those visits were as a spectator.
After delivering one of the most surprising tennis results in recent years, Rus acknowledged she was nervous at the outset, perhaps because Clijsters is one of her favorite players, someone she used to cheer for when watching on TV.
She said she had trouble dealing with wind that gusted at upward of 20 mph, making the balls move unexpectedly at times and occasionally kicking up clouds of loose clay into players' eyes.
Those conditions led to this bon mot from Rafael Nadal: "If you play good, seems like much less wind. If you are playing bad, seems like a hurricane.''
The five-time French Open champion wasn't forced to work nearly as hard as he did in getting past John Isner in five sets Tuesday, but Nadal was hardly satisfied after beating 48th-ranked Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
He needed to erase eight set points after trailing 5-1 in the third against Andujar, who said he thinks Nadal is "going through perhaps a period of doubt.''
Also reaching the third round were past Grand Slam finalists Robin Soderling and Andy Murray, along with No. 10 Mardy Fish, the last U.S. man in the field. Six seeded men lost: No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, No. 20 Florian Mayer of Germany, No. 24 Sam Querrey of the U.S., No. 27 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, No. 28 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and No. 32 Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Davydenko, a French Open semifinalist in 2005 and 2007, was beaten in five sets by Antonio Veic of Croatia, a qualifier ranked 227th whose reward is a third-round match against Nadal.
Garcia was the youngest and, at 188th, lowest-ranked woman left, and was playing in only the second tour-level event of her nascent career.
Many expect great things from her, including Murray, who after beating Simone Bolelli 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-5, took to Twitter and wrote, "Girl sharapova is playing is going to be No.1 in world one day caroline garcia, what a player u heard it here 1st.''
Sharapova's take? "She's on her way up, definitely.''
Actually, Garcia looked like the poised veteran early, taking the first set and a 4-1 lead in the second, buoyed by a partisan crowd that roared with approval after her 17 groundstroke winners, seven more than Sharapova accumulated.
But during a changeover, spectators raised a ruckus by doing the wave, and Garcia acknowledged later that flustered her a bit.
"I had many things going in my head, because I was leading. I was playing well. She was not really in the court,'' said Garcia, who now will play in the junior tournament. "And then she reacted just like a champion, because she is a great champion.''
The French Open is the one major title Sharapova doesn't own, but she and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the only women with multiple Grand Slam trophies who are still around. That's because the Williams sisters didn't enter the French Open - and because Clijsters already is unexpectedly headed home.
La robe de Tatiana Golovin fait fondre le village
Robe dorée et brillante sous le soleil, collant noir et talons hauts, la tenue de Tatiana Golovin n'a rien de très estival. Mais au milieu des chemises Lacoste et des costards beige du village de Roland, la robe de Tatiana fait son petit effet. Les photographes apprécient. De même que les invités du banquet qui ne manquent pas de reluquer l'ex-joueuse en long, en large et en travers. N'est-ce pas Monsieur ? (voir photo)
A noter la taille des talons qui semble approcher la vingtaine de centimètre. Attention toutefois à ne pas planter l'aiguille entre les planches du parquet. Ce serait un beau gag mais ça risquerait de faire très mal aux chevilles...
A lire aussi : Roland Garros : 17,5 millions d'euros à distribuer
A noter la taille des talons qui semble approcher la vingtaine de centimètre. Attention toutefois à ne pas planter l'aiguille entre les planches du parquet. Ce serait un beau gag mais ça risquerait de faire très mal aux chevilles...
A lire aussi : Roland Garros : 17,5 millions d'euros à distribuer
