French Open Day 7: Le Drapeau Français s'agiter

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

As the title says, in online translated French, "the French flag is a-flying." With five of their own in the fourth round, this tournament has been a success. But what was the highest ranking achieved out of the five? Answer is of course below.

Some of the Frenchies are the four lowest seeds left in the pack. And the unseeded is the second-lowest ranked in the tournament. If not for Gabashvili the five Frenchman would be the five lowest ranked players left. But, hey, there has to be safety in numbers.

Occasionally the ATP side of BACKSPIN feels the need to review a WTA match. Not often, but when we do we hark the call. Azarenka and Serena was the match we had circled from the first time we saw the draw. And it didn't disappoint. Azarenka blew Serena away after a hard fought opening four games from the two former world number ones. Both are former number ones, though Serena is the current. But Azarenka rolled to a 6-3, 3-1 advantage. And with Serena down 1-3, 30/30 it looked like a repeat of the 2009 Miami final that Vika won 6-3, 6-1. It really looked like it would be 6-3, 6-1. But then Azarenka missed a put away inside forehand. She constructed the point like a maestro but she faltered on the final shot. Perhaps it was the pressure or the score line or the opponent, or a mixture of all of them.

And now a guest star to explain what happened next:



And the result? Serena won four games twice and took the match out 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Azarenka wilted under the pressure and steely stare of Williams. Williams is 16-3 against Azarenka and 17-2 against Sharapova. She's also 5-1 against Halep and 10-1 versus Wozniacki. Bruce Hornsby and the Range, anyone?

It was a fantastic match and combined with the Gasquet/Anderson tussle that proceeded it it was even better.

So now we go onto what happened in the remaining third round matches. And at least one of them was exciting. No, really.

*Suicide Pick*
We all know how this works. Pick a player to win each round but you cannot pick them again. I blew the Barthel pick, but I survive in the men's singles.

Men's Singles 1st: Verdasco [32] d. Daniel [Q]
Men's Singles 2nd: Cilic [9] d. Arnaboldi [Q]
Men's Singles 3rd: Ferrer [7] d. Bolelli
Men's Singles 4th: Nishikori [5] d. Gabashvili
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Women's Singles Barthel d. Kania


PHILIPPE CHATRIER: DJOKOVIC D. KOKKINAKIS
...Kyrgios must not fall into the trap that Monfils did. He must have a career, not a circus act. His star will burn very brightly but it may burn too brightly too quickly just as Monfils' star did. Kokkinakis' star will burn slightly dimmer, but surely for longer. Perhaps Kyrgios will attract all the attention and allow Kokki to achieve under cover of darkness, so to speak. Kokkinakis is more grounded, more solid and more complete. The 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 scoreline was accurate. Kokki challenged Djokovic throughout the contest. Thanasi went 27-28 on winners and, against the best returner in the world, lost his serve just three times. He hit eight aces in the match, his serve being his biggest weapon. Djokovic went 34-12 on the winners. It was a high quality match and if that's the future sign ATP BACKSPIN up. Djokovic sees how hard the road will be from here. He owns Gasquet in the head to head, but this is Roland Garros. If it is washed out tomorrow then play will be set back a day. If the crowd carries Gasquet well and he steals a set, things may soon become complicated. Gasquet has pushed Djokovc in a few of their matches. If he can drag it out for a while, it could hurt Novak down the line. Djokovic may have a four setter and two five setters in his future. On clay can he win against Federer or even Berdych after a washed out day and three tight matches? We shall see.
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PHILIPPE CHATRIER: GASQUET D. ANDERSON
...Courier lamented that there weren't enough close matches. And how lucky he was to have this on the agenda. One of the best four setters you'll see this year happened on Chatrier. The French were fueled by dodgy lines calls, though they weren't as dodgy as some of the ones called in the Williams match, and the fact one of their sons was playing. Gasquet edged out Anderson 4-6, 7-6[4], 7-5, 6-4. The crowd again proved to be the friend of Gasquet. Anderson's head never went down but Gasquet really got them going. He worked in tandem with the crowd. Anderson hit 22 aces in the contest and played a brilliant match. Anderson is a solid top twenty player. And he will make waves in Wimbledon and in New York.
Gasquet has Djokovic next and that's nice for Gasquet in some ways. He almost definitely won't win but he has almost unlimited freedom to do whatever he wants. It's his first fourth round since that U.S. Open, where he reached the semi-finals. Gasquet has been to four French and four Australian Open fourth rounds.
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SUZANNE LENGLEN: MURRAY D. KYRGIOS
...Watching Murray is depressing. It's really grim. He plays so passively and you just want to scream for him to hit the ball properly. Except with an expletive or two perhaps. Sometimes a little aggression is called for. The amount of silly drop shots Murray tried was enormous. Murray played a clever match, but the less of him one has to watch the happier one is. There's just no excitement. Unless you count his constant swearing. That at least was not just him for once. Murray won 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. A shoulder injury hurt Kyrgios in more ways than one. He keeps impressing but Murray and his consistency was too much this time. Murrray actually played some nice stuff, too. His first serve per cent needs to rise. But aside from that he played a solid match. So Murray goes on to play Chardy. That will be on Chatrier. Let's all hope Chardy can make it interesting. That seems to be beyond Murray's abilities. Murray plays effectively and nobody is taking away from him the fact he is a good player, but being a bit less passive would really help.
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SUZANNE LENGLEN: NADAL D. KUZNETSOV
...Kuznetsov had third round Wimbledon points to defend and that meant he had to do well here and do alright at one of the grass warm-ups. He has performed well and he can be proud. He has risen to inside the 100. Nadal led 6-1, 5-1 but Kuznetsov fought back and fought back hard. Nadal held on in the third and then cruised 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Nadal broke eight times to two. And that was the final nail in the foregone coffin... err, conclusion. Nadal has Sock next up and they both put an enormous amount of spin on their forehands. That is going to be a fantastic match to watch. The forehand battle will be interesting. The key for Sock is going to be the serve. He needs to be having a first serve percent of between 65-70. And he needs to win 60 per cent of his second serves.
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COURT ONE: FERRER D. BOLELLI
...Ferrer is still the Spanish number two. Great job security there. Ferrer is a cut above every Spaniard except Nadal. He is a cut below Nadal. So it has always been and so it shall ever be. Or so we all thought. It looks like Ferru will last just long enough to take the Spanish number one spot before both fall down. Who is there to take over the Spanish mantle? David got through though it was a bizarre scoreline. The Spaniard won 6-3, 1-6, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1. Ferrer hit 40 winners but the 37 errors were just too many. He also needs to keep winning 64% of his service points like he did here or even increase that number. Ferrer has Cilic next. That is a tricky one to call. Cilic is very dangerous, very explosive. But he is playing the wall. Can his firepower break the wall down?
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OUTER COURT SELECTION: DODIG/MELO D. GARRCIA-LOPEZ
...This should have been close. The third seeds were taking on the 15th seeds but Dodig/Melo have found some fantastic form at various points throughout the year. And this was no different. The third seeds won handily 6-1, 6-4. The third seeds took 3 out of 4 break chances but never gave their opponents even a break point. They even won 79% per cent of their serves. To be able to serve big on clay is an achievement. The eighth seeds may await in the next round. Surely a similar score line is out of the question..
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Any other notes?

* - Djokovic and Nadal both showed good sportsmanship, especially on line calls. Shout out to them.
* - Australia has three future stars. And it has more in the pipeline.
* - The men's seeds have fared better than the ladies overall. This is clear in the top ten particularly.
* - This article is fantastic. Great set of numbers. Really enforces Rafa's greatness.
* - Casey Dellacqua and her partner Shvedova beat the French/Polish pair 6-2, 6-1. They had eleven break points and took five. They never gave up a break point to their opponents. Garcia/Srebotnik are the eighth seeds and they will meet Casey/Yaroslava next up. They win that and they will be the highest seed in the quarter.

Well, I'm out for now.

ANSWER: Tsonga ranked 5 in 2012. That is the highest any of the five has achieved. Gasquet and Monfils hit seven. Simon has been at six. Chardy has surprisingly only been as high as 25.

Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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