French Open 2012: Day 1 wrap
Roar Guru Day 1 at Roland Garros saw many top seeds go through comfortably to the second round including star Australian Samantha Stosur.
Stosur was clinical in the first match on centre court, thrashing Scot Elana Baltacha 6-4 6-0 in exactly one hour where she clubbed an excellent 32 winners.
Elsewhere on the women’s draw Ana Ivanovic, Sveltana Kuznetsova and Angelique Kerber all won convincingly, while in her comeback Grand Slam match from illness Venus Williams was forced to do it the hard way grinding out a 4-6 6-1 6-3 victory over Argentinean qualifier Paula Ormaechea to secure her passage to the second round.
With none of the top four Men’s players in action on Day 1, Juan Martin Del Potro and Jo Wilfred Tsonga took up the spotlight on centre court. Both were forced into tough four set battles against the likes of Spaniard Alberto Montanes and Russian rising star Andrey Kuznetsov before both secured their places in the second round.
Fernando Verdasco, Marin Cilic, Stanislas Wawrinka and Juan Carlos Ferrero all survived their first round matches, however that was not the case for Andy Roddick and Jurgen Melzer with both men exiting the tournament on day 1 at the hands of Nicolas Mahut and Michael Berrer respectively, which provided the tennis world with a small dose of day 1 upsets.
Samantha Stosur wasn’t the only Aussie in action on Day 1, with Casey Dellacqua and Anastasia Rodionova also flying the Australian flag at the French capital. Dellacqua put up a good fight against World number 21 Sara Errani before going down in a tight three set match.
Rodionova was the centre of controversy on Court 1 after refusing to shake the umpire’s hand after the match. Throughout the match Rodionova was pestering the umpire for what she thought were bad line calls (which were nearly all correct) and this is believed to be the reason for Rodionova’s public refusal to shake the umpire’s hand. She was booed off the court by the French fans after her 5-7 7-6 6-4 defeat to Frenchwoman Matilde Johansson.
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The Crowd Says (4) | Page 1 of Comments
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May 28th 2012 @ 6:04pm
Sam said | May 28th 2012 @ 6:04pm | Report comment
What an interesting day of tennis it was. Can’t wait till tonight’s action begins!
May 28th 2012 @ 6:35pm
Alan Nicolea said | May 28th 2012 @ 6:35pm | Report comment
Good win by Stosur but when the pressure was applied late in that first set by Baltacha, the aussie really lost her way. Had that been a better player, Stosur would have lost the first set in my opinion. She needs to be more clinical and assertive when faced with key moments such as those. She should get better hopefully.
May 29th 2012 @ 12:19pm
Malibu77 said | May 29th 2012 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
Word around the traps is that Rodionova has a real attitude problem.
Someone needs to have a word with her and tell her to lift her game!
Great to read your articles, Zac. So little coverage given to tennis (esp. womens) by the mainstream Aussie media.
Lets hope Sam Stosur can go deep into the second week, although consistency is not her strong suit!
May 29th 2012 @ 2:11pm
zacbrygel said | May 29th 2012 @ 2:11pm | Report comment
Thanks for that @Malibu77. I’ll try to write as many tennis articles throughout the tournament as I can. Go Stosur! If you want to read more tennis articles please read my Day 2 Mens draw French Open report. Here is the link: http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/05/29/french-open-2012-day-2-mens-draw-report/
Enjoy!