Roland Garros Day Seven- How is life fair?

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

I am going to be picking some matches and talking about those. I was planning to start looking at matches soon anyhow, but the day has forced my hand. And, yes, it is these moments Kuznetsova fans live for. This win can keep me happy till the US Open when a heartbreaking loss will yet again have me in tears of frustration. The loss to Schiavone in the Australian Open is, sadly, forever burned into my memory.

Anyway, getting back to the ATP. Can we start an under-appreciation thread for Ferrer. He is the fifth best player and the finalist from last year. He has even had a quite solid lead up into this Grand Slam. Throw in another quarterfinal at the Australian Open, winning in Buenos Aires again and a semifinal appearance at Madrid and you have a solid year. He will probably fall short at Rafa's hands once more. Ferrer is almost like the Sharapova to Serena in the Spanish men except he does sometimes win.

Nadal was broken twice today. He was actually tested for a full half an hour. Then he swept through his Argentinian opponent. Nadal was called for a time violation at a critical point in the match again. I think it is the wrong approach from the umpire. First time call it at 40/0 or so and then next time at deuce. That way you ease Rafa into it more.

In other news, where is Edberg? It's like playing 'Where's Wally' but you have to find Edberg in the crowd somewhere.

And, on that mediocre comparison, I shall lead into the matches. I would love to write 5000 words on Kuznetsova but, alas and alack, that is not what I am here for. So, stuff happened, "But what?," I hear you ask. Well, this.


MARQUEE MATCH: NADAL d. MAYER
...Nadal is playing terribly. His opponent was two points from taking the set. I know. Nadal reacted like Nadal does. He moved into top gear and, I need to work on my analogies, he is a Ferrari. His top gear is incredible. His opponent is like a Ford. Fine and all, but plenty of them. He was having to go top gear just to match Nadal's second gear. And, to his credit, it was working. But when Nadal goes into top gear, where does the Ford go? That proved to be exactly the problem. Mayer couldn't match his opponents A-game. Nadal had a horrible error count. Ten. He hit 29 winners. His opponent had 26, with 2 aces, but hit 36 errors because he simply had to go for it. Nadal won in the end 6-2/7-5/6-2. It did take him two hours and seventeen minutes, however. Mayer used both wings in a fully offensive attack on Nadal. He used the classic tactic -- bombard the forehand and then viciously attack the backhand. It was the right play. Unfortunately, Nadal did not let him attack the forehand. Every time Mayer went there Nadal just took advantage of the rallies. It was, in the end, a dominant performance. Nadal is the most dominant man ever to play on this surface. He's won this thing eight darn times. And add to that the world's easiest draw. So not only is he utterly dominant anyway, but all he has to do to make the quarters is beat a bunch of journeymen. How is life fair? Nadal is going to dominate Lajovic. The one thing Lajovic has in his favour is that he has not yet dropped a set here.
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Un autre match intéressant: BRYANS d. MURRAY/PEERS
...The Floirda residents passed their first test in classy fashion. They played the fifteenth seeds and Munich winners in the third round. This was a test. The Bryans won 6-3/6-1 in just 49 minutes. Consider the test passed. They were imperious to begin with and just got better and better. They were too strong, hitting three aces on their way to the win. They had eight break points, taking four. They never themselves faced a break point. They won 51 per cent of receiving points. Incredibly, of the 43 points they received the fifteenth seeds won just 9. That was where a crucial difference lay. The inability to return competently [for want of a better ward] hurt them. To be honest, the Bryans are on such good form there isn't much any pair can do to stop them. The Bryans really do look like perhaps the greatest team ever right now. As I type, the only seeds left in the men's doubles draw are the first, third, fifth, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth. Bob and Mike play the very dangerous twelfth seeds, Lopez/Granollers. I thought we would see this match up. It is going to be a cracker but I just can't see an upset here.
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THIRD ROUND: GARCIA-LOPEZ D. YOUNG
...The biggest clash of styles and looks. The Ortiz mini-me Young faced off against Spanish looking [a good thing, considering he is Spanish] GGL. The inexperienced big lefty trying to prove himself against the battle-hardened veteran going for one last run. It's the stuff movies are made of. Who would prevail? In a movie, the youngster [and our hero] would go down two sets to love and be in trouble. Then he finds inspiration from a family member who just passed, he comes roaring back and wins it in five epic sets. That kind of is actually the plot of the film "Wimbledon," except our hero is the veteran and it's set, well, I'm sure you can guess where it's set. It's certainly worth a watch at some point. But I digress. This did go five sets. 121 winners and 106 errors later we had our winner. Winning 165 points to Young's 159, GGL moved through 6-2/6-4/2-6/6-7/6-4. It took him three hours and seven minutes to make it through to the next round. He managed to play consistent aggressive tennis while hoping Young made the errors. Young did not make errors and actually performed pretty well. He just ran out of gas after a mammoth final two sets. GGL negated Young's weapons and made sure the young star would not have the cliche movie finish, though this was a blockbuster. GGL plays Monfils next. If he can keep his head on his shoulders, he should be able to win but the crowd and Monfils are two hugely variable factors.
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THIRD ROUND : FERRER D. SEPPI
...Ferrer eased through again, making it to the third round without dropping a set and barely being challenged. Ferrer has dropped just four sets since 2012 at the French Open and three of those were to Rafa. He has been perhaps the second best at this slam since 2012. Well, up there with Rafa and Novak. Ferrer and Seppi are both experienced, tough clay courters. The one thing Seppi does best [grind], Ferrer is the king, the emperor, the grand vizier, the prime minister, the president, the governor, the chancellor and the supreme ruler of grinding. Nobody can do it better than him. I have watched him win as his game slowly disintegrates around him. His backhand and forehand wings will stop working properly so he will just sit there and spin it relentlessly crosscourt till you give in or get bored, though those are virtually the same thing. If it were possible to grind Nadal into the dust it would have been done by this man. He won through here 6-2/7-6/6-3 by playing well. He matched Seppi on the baseline and then added ten per cent extra pace when he had his opponent on the stretch. It was clever, consistent play from Ferru and he went through in two hours and twenty two minutes. He demolished Anderson last year 6-3/6-1/6-1 despite some experts thinking it was going to be an upset. I think Anderson does better this year but he will not take a set. Ferrer will advance to his third straight Roland Garros quarterfinal.
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THIRD ROUND : MONFIS D. FOGNINI
...I saved the best till last. Well, I say the best. It was and then again it really wasn't. The most exciting men's match and the men's match with the most bizarre scoreline, too, so far. Monfils won 5-7/6-2/6-2/0-6/6-2. I won't even look at the stats. In fact, Monfils himself debated whether or not the stats were correct. Fognini flipped the bird, nearly hit a ball kid, got a time violation, had an injury time out, swore several times, had a 'thing' with the chair umpire, talked to the supervisor, and broke 9 times. Monfils had an injury time out, threw the fourth set, winning just six points in that set. He said he was 'dying' at the start of the fifth before going up 3-0. He broke ten times.
I can't talk about this match. If you saw it you would understand. It's a match which has to be watched.
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Any other notes?

* - The scheduling on the courts was not great. Why not move Gasquet vs. Verdasco? To be fair they weren't expecting the Kvitova/Kuznetsova match to go so far. Also, I am a big fan of Sveta. Some days I wonder if she does this on purpose or just because she can't win any other way.

* - Why won't anyone hire Navratilova as their coach? If she'd be willing to do it for free, she could teach me how to volley.

* - Wawrinka would have had the easiest draw to navigate. Instead, GGL took advantage of that draw and could make his maiden quarterfinal.

* - What is it with epic final sets today?

* - Will Gasquet ever get a break in a grand slam draw? To get to the semifinals of the US Open last year he needed back to back five setters against Raonic and Ferrer. He drew Tomic at Wimbledon, Wawrinka at the French and Tsonga at the Aussie. He drew Robredo at this year's Australian and now Verdasco here. He needs to ask Errani how she gets so many slam breaks.

* - America is doing well again, but whisper it quietly. John Isner has a shot to become the first American to make the quarters since Agassi in 2002. Stephens does have a chance against Halep.

* - The world Cup is coming up, the soccer World Cup. How is that going to affect Wimbledon, if at all. Yes, that is not strictly Roland Garros related, but there are only 11 days till it starts.

* - We have five Spaniards left in the draw. Remind me, why are they not still in the Davis Cup? On that note, Nadal's back could be playing up. He said it was hurting and affecting his serve. He might lose a set. Well, maybe at some point.


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