Day 9 Roland Garros Update

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

When the Tennis Gods decide to make the draws, they seem always to give Gasquet a horror draw. Perhaps it is punishment or perhaps they just have a sadistic streak. In any case, he got a horror draw again. With Delpo and Murray pulling out, Gasquet was the seventh seed but somehow he drew ninth seed and world number ten Wawrinka. He could have drawn anyone but he got Wawrinka. He was confident and composed in reaching the fourth round, dropping the fewest games to get there he's ever dropped. He even went two sets to none up before crumbling in five epic sets, 8-6 in the fifth. You could see just how much it hurt him after the match. He had his chances but it is yet another fourth round defeat for the Frenchman. I would not be surprised if he drew Federer in his fourth round match at Wimbledon, assuming of course, that Delpo and Murray return.

The Boy's singles threw up a couple of upsets, including one massive one, with tenth seed Geens of Belgium going down 2 and 1 to Japanese Nishioka. The fourteenth seed also crashed out. The big upset, however, was Karen Khachanov of Russia beating top seed Kyrgios in three sets.

In the Doubles, Cuevas and Zeballos continued their run with another upset, but this time over sixth seeds Quereshi and Rojer. They triumphed in a titanic struggle 5-7, 6-3, 7-6. The doubles QF look like this now:
Bryan/Bryan [1] or Kas/ Marach ~[8] Marrero/ Verdasco
Frystenberg/ Matowski [16] ~ [12] Dodig/Melo or [7] Peya/ Soares
Cuevas/Zeballos ~ Bednarek/Janowicz
Llodra/Mahut ~ [2] Granollers/Lopez

Which big seeds fell in the men's singles? Gasquet seeded seventh, Nishikori seeded 13th and Youzhny seeded 29th. And Kohl seeded sixteenth, too. So we have now:

Djokovic [1] vs. [12] Haas
Nadal [3] vs. Wawrinka [9]
Ferrer [4] v.s [32] Robredo
Federer [2] vs. Tsonga [6]


MARQUEE MATCH: Wawrinka d. Gasquet
...I think this is the match of the year. All the players were watching it on TV and commenting on Twitter how good this match was. 23 aces combined as well as 149 winners. This was truly an incredible crowd. It had drama, too, with Wawrinka getting linespeople removed and with Gasquet getting the French crowd going. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole match. It was simply a spectacle. We had the opposite problem here, though, that they had in America. Channel three insisted on showing Nishikori vs Nadal which of course wasn't half the spectacle this was. Hmmm perhaps the American TV channels think if they don't show Radwanska live on TV they can contain it...or would that just make it angry?
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MARAT/ GONZO MOMENT: Karen Khachanov, RUS
...This spot is usually the 'Rosol Award spot' but there were no upsets really. Gasquet would have been feeling pretty upset but I am going to pay my tribute to the late, great (late as in retired) Fernando Gonzalez and also Marat Safin. Youzhny smashed his racket seven times on the chair until his racket was obliterated. He lost 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 so his racket wasn't the only one getting obliterated. When asked about it afterward he said, "My racket was unlucky." I do miss the Chilean and the Russian. Never a dull moment with those two around.
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ISNER-MAHUT WANNABE'S: Wawrinka/Gasquet, SUI/FRA
...This match is going to win a bagful of awards. They battled for four hours and sixteen minutes on Suzanne Lenglen, which apparently they requested to play on. It was quality from the first ball to the last when Gasquet lost his serve at 6-7. It was just a duel that "Star Wars" would have been proud of. I mean some of the shots I know you couldn't teach.
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BLINK AND YOU MISS IT: Nadal/Nishikori, ESP/JAP
...This was especially brutal considering the fact there is only ten places between them in the rankings. It took Nadal a shade over two hours to dismiss Kori 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Nadal takes no quarter on clay and Nishikori was out of league and indeed outclassed here. He had 14 winners to 39 unforced errors. Nadal had 20 winners and 23 unforced errors. Nadal won five of eight break points and was just utterly dominant.
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ELVIS AWARD: Novak Djokovic, SRB
...Kohl came out on fire and took the first 6-4 but Djokovic slowly pulled him back and finally won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The Djodal semi that everyone circled in red pen is just a match away now. I think that Kohl will now climb a couple places in the rankings and he will be seeded quite well at Wimby, which is good because he has fourth round points to defend there.
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HOME GROWN HEREO: Richard Gasquet, FRA
...The luck Gasquet gets in draws is akin to the luck characters get who star in Springsteen songs.

"Now I work down at the carwash

Where all it ever does is rain

Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train"

That is classic Springsteen, and I think Gasquet feels like he is a rider on a downbound train sometimes. He, like all Springsteen characters, holds out some vague hope it will improve and meanwhile he does all he can to try and outdo the awful hand he as been dealt. He had it good, then times got hard and he can't seem to get any kind of luck. This Wimbledon he will be praying for a good draw, but of course part of the problem is his difficulty with regards to beating the top four.
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I shall now quickly preview some of tomorrow's action....


...I think Ferrer is going to beat Robredo quite easily, unfortunately, and I think Federer should prevail in four tight sets too.

Thanks and visit WTA Backspin.

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