Voo de Mar

There are records that seem untouchable, one of them belonged through 86 years to Henri Cochet, who triumphed at Wimbledon 1927 coming back from two sets down in three consecutive matches, however, nothing lasts forever. In the Open era several players managed to win two matches in a row trailing 0-2 in sets, but no-one did it three times until Sunday, when Tommy Robredo produced arguably the most astonishing comeback in his career #. He had lost all five meetings against Nicolas Almagro prior to their fourth round match, and after losing first two sets, he won another three being a break down in every one of them: *1:4, 2:4* & 0:2* respectively. He was also 3:4 down in the decider, but repeated the feat of two previous sets winning all games since the opponent had won four in a set. Robredo during the match was supported by the Parisian crowd like never before outside Spain, the crowd was chanting “Tommy! Tommy!”, and it brought Robredo to tears in the end. “I played a player who is incredible on clay,” said Robredo about his 3-hour, 49-minute victory. “I’m not thinking about history. History is this match I played today. It’s not the score that counts. Nothing more than that.” Besides Robredo, all other quarter-finalists were expected at this stage of the tournament. David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have advanced to the last eight not even dropping a set. No-one even played a tie-break against Ferrer, yet Marinko Matosevic led *3:0 against him in a 2nd set of their first round encounter before losing all games to the end of set, Tsonga in turn, was forced to fight off a set point against Jarkko Nieminen. It seemed Roger Federer would enter the quarterfinals with four straight set victories too, when he won easily 1st set against Gilles Simon and led 3:2* (30/0) in the 2nd. Since then, Simon turned the things around, but Federer subdued him from 2-all in the 4th set collecting seven games in a row. Simon saved a couple of break points to end that streak and gave the hope to his numerous supporters gathered on Philippe Chartier stadium for a magnificent comeback. Federer serving to win the match was able to play all the most important points hitting all 1st serves in, and saved two break points to notch a 6-1 4-6 2-6 6-2 6-3 victory just under three hours. 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer won a record-tying 58th match at Roland Garros (Nicola Pietrangeli, Guillermo Vilas). The Swiss has now won 900 main-level matches, this milestone accomplished only three players before. Rafael Nadal revealed that elbow-pain was the reason of his uncertain form in the first three matches. The 7-time champion celebrated his 27th birthday with no pain and quick destruction of Kei Nishikori (6-4 6-1 6-3). It’s just one match away from his anticipated semifinal against Novak Djokovic, who dropped his 1st set of the tournament against Philipp Kohlschreiber, to whom lost their only previous encounter in Paris, four years ago. Kohlschreiber won then three sets ‘6-4’, and repeated the same scoreline in the opening set. Djokovic snapped that streak thanks to very important two games in the mid-2nd set when he broke the German, then held his serve and it lasted 18 minutes (8, 10) – Kohlschreiber wasn’t the same afterwards. “We were very close throughout my whole life and she taught me a lot of things that are part of me, part of my character today. I have the nicest memories of her. She was 77 years old, and before she passed away two days ago, last week she was giving lessons to kids.” said Djokovic about his first coach, Jelena Gencic, who died on Saturday. Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet played perhaps the match of the event on Suzanne Lenglen. The Swiss came back for the sixth time in career from two sets down while Gasquet suffered his fifth defeat despite winning the first two sets. The highlight came in the 8th game of the 4th set when both guys exchanged nine consecutive points concluded with spectacular winners (5-4 edged Wawrinka). After that Gasquet delivered a service winner to save fifth break point and had mini-match points in two following Wawrinka’s service games. When Gasquet started limping at the end of the 4th set, I expected the decider would be quick, but he somehow regrouped and had another mini-match points at 5-all in the deciding set, it was a double break point – Wawrinka escaped with brave attitude and converted his only break point of the set in the last game. “I played the best level I ever played at,” said Wawrinka, who was broken only twice in the match (at the beginning of the 2nd set & trailed 0:4 in the consequence). Gasquet, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2007, can’t even reach a major quarterfinal since then, the loss to Wawrinka is his 11th fourth round defeat in the meantime – he’s been ousted in the last 16 of the last six Grand Slam events! Tommy Haas with an unexpected ease dismissed Mikhail Youzhny, to whom lost in straight sets recently in Rome. The 35-year-old Haas has now advanced to quarterfinals at all majors, he is the first German in the quarterfinals in Paris since 1996, and sixth German overall of the Open era in the last eight of the French Open.

Longest match: 4 hours, 16 minutes. Stanislas Wawrinka d. Richard Gasquet 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 8-6
Most aces: 13 – Wawrinka against Gasquet

5-set barometer: 22-17 Roger Federer, 20-14 Stanislas Wawrinka, 13-4 Tommy Robredo, 13-11 Nicolas Almagro, 12-7 Gilles Simon, 5-12 Richard Gasquet

# Comebacks from a two-sets-to-love deficit in three straight matches:
***
Henri Cochet – Wimbledon 1927
Q – Frank Hunter 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
S – Bill Tilden 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3
W – Jean Borotra 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 – 6 m.p.
***
Tommy Robredo – Roland Garros 2013
2 – Igor Sijsling 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1
3 – Gael Monfils 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2 – 4 m.p.
4 – Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Just like during last year’s Wimbledon, five 30+ year-olds reached the last 16 of a major tournament (Haas, Youzhny, Robredo, Ferrer & Federer). The oldest among them, Tommy Haas survived one of the most amazing matches in the Grand Slam history. The German wasted 12 match points (Open era record!) in the 4th set against John Isner on Court No. 1, then trailed *0:3 (30-all) in the deciding set, and saved a match point at 4:5 (30/40) with a quite long rally during which he hit one of his shots uncleanly close to the sideline. Isner fought off nine match points serving at 5:6, including 15/40, and another three match points in the tie-break (6:7, 7:8*, 8:9). Haas committed a double fault having the only match point on serve, Isner delivered 5 aces saving other match points! “It’s obviously a great match to be a part of, especially at such a big event against somebody that is very used to those kinds of matches,” said Haas. “Unfortunately one has to lose, and I think it would have been more upsetting for me in this case, after having many chances in the fourth set there.” The German joins Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker & Greg Rusedski as the fourth Open era player to survive six five-setters facing a match point, he also becomes the first 35 year-old player to reach the fourth round of a major since Jonas Bjorkman advanced to the fourth round of the French Open 2007. Rafael Nadal, after two first rounds in which had lost opening sets, was close to repeat it when Fabio Fognini was serving at 6:5. The Italian couldn’t consolidate the break and lost the match 6-7(5) 4-6 4-6. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for the third time won their matches in straight sets, Djokovic avenged a Madrid loss to Grigor Dimitrov outplaying the Bulgarian 6-2 6-2 6-3. The Serbian became the 40th player in Open era history to win 500 main-level matches. Federer dismissed Julien Benneteau 6-3 6-4 7-5 – in very similar fashion like five years before in the fourth round. Gael Monfils, despite his two entertaining matches on Philippe Chatrier, was subsided to Suzanne Lenglen and perhaps it didn’t help him. The Frenchman, playing his 13th match in 18 days, wasted four match points, two consecutive on serve leading 5:4 in the 4th set, and lost to Tommy Robredo 6-2 7-6(5) 2-6 6-7(3) 2-6 in 3 hours 46 minutes. “Maybe today he was physically fitter than me,” Monfils said,  “Already during the match I started feeling some problems. I tried to hide it, but there comes a stage when whatever you do to hide your physical problems you can no longer hide them, and he became stronger and stronger. It is frustrating, because I don’t like to lose matches for physical or fitness [reasons]. But today I have to admit he was stronger.” Robredo’s second straight five-set win coming back from two sets down (in the second round he won easily three sets after dropping the first two to Igor Sijsling).

Longest match: 4 hours, 37 minutes. Tommy Haas d. John Isner 7-5, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-7(10), 10-8
Most aces: 27 – Isner against Haas

5-set barometer: 21-20 Tommy Haas, 12-4 Tommy Robredo, 12-6 Gilles Simon, 11-6 Geal Monfils, 5-12 John Isner, 2-6 Sam Querrey

Gael Monfils has taken part in two best matches at this year’s Roland Garros (both on Philippe Chatrier). After surviving a 5-set thriller against Tomas Berdych, the former semifinalist defeated Ernests Gulbis in an entertaining 4-set duel. Monfils came from a break down in sets 2 & 3 to build a 5:2* lead in the 3rd set. The level of tennis from that moment to the end of the set was extremely pleasant to watch because both players raised the level of their game-styles to their best. Gulbis saved five set points on return in the 9th game (including a triple SP) and had four chances to break his opponent in the 11th game – the last break point was saved by Monfils with a very lucky net-cord. The local pupil converted his seventh set point with a stop-volley and Gulbis couldn’t recover after that, losing the 4th set unfortunately not putting too much energy onto the court. Sergiey Stakhovsky used his smart-phone to take a picture of a questionable call during his first round loss, Monfils went a bit further with the technology and asked the chair umpire for permission to record the atmosphere on his phone. “I asked, ‘[Am] I allowed to tape the wave?’ He tell me, ‘Sure, you can.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I will tape it, like quick. No worries.’ (Laughter.),” explained Monfils, the 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2 winner. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic outplayed their opponents without any troubles, Somdev Devvarman and Guido Pella respectively. “He doesn’t need to change his game. It worked back then, so it’s up to me now to change something and to see what didn’t work during that match and to see how I can change it,” stated Federer about his next match against Julien Benneteau to whom lost twice indoors and barely survived a Wimbledon encounter last year. Benneteau, strongly supported by the partisan crowd, ended in tears his second round match against Tobias Kamke, 7-6(9) 7-5 5-7 0-6 6-4. The Frenchman saved two set points in the tie-break and rallied from a 0:2* (15/30) deficit in the deciding set. Kamke played two five-setters in Paris, and both had a twisted progress – he lost 11 straight games in the first round, but won the match; against Benneteau experienced the reverse – won 10 straight games, but finished as a loser. Victor Hanescu [54] moved into the third round as a grantee of two retirements. I’ve made some research to find only eight earlier cases in the Open era that a player got two wins via retirements within one major (it happened once at Australian Open – Arnaud Clement in 2000, once at Wimbledon – Clark Graebner in 1969, once at Roland Garros – Alberto Berasategui in 1994, and five times at US Open: Raymond Moore, Jiri Novak, Andy Roddick, Robin Soderling and Tommy Robredo). Janko Tipsarevic for the third time in career lost a match point up set to Fernando Verdasco, but second time managed to win under these circumstances, 7-6(3) 6-1 3-6 5-7 8-6 in 4 hours 33 minutes. Rafael Nadal again unexpectedly lost  his opening set, this time to fellow left-hander Martin Klizan (4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3). “I started the match probably with not the right intensity, with more doubts than usual,” admitted Nadal. “The positive thing was that I had a good reaction at the beginning of the second, even if I didn’t play fantastic. I played the way that I had to play, with intensity, with passion, playing more inside.”

Longest match: 4 hours, 33 minutes. Janko Tipsarevic d. Fernando Verdasco 7-6(3), 6-1, 3-6, 5-7, 8-6
Most aces: 24 – Milos Raonic, defeated Michael Llodra in four sets

5-set barometer: 18-8 Janko Tipsarevic, 16-13 Fernando Verdasco, 15-11 Andreas Seppi, 11-4 Tommy Robredo, 11-10 Viktor Troicki, 8-6 Julien Benneteau, 5-11 John Isner, 3-3 Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 2-2 Blaz Kavcic, 2-3 Tobias Kamke, 1-2 Igor Sijsling, 0-3 Ryan Harrison

Because of bad weather on Tuesday (heavy rain delayed the start of play until 1:45 p.m. local time) three matches were suspended, Janko Tipsarevic and Nicolas Mahut didn’t enter the court at all. In one of those suspended matches a recent semifinalist in Rome, Benoit Paire outlasted Marcos Baghdatis 3-6 7-6(1) 6-4 6-4 coming back from a break down in the 2nd set. The Frenchman survived a titanic 6th game of the 3rd set (11 deuces, 15 minutes) saving six break points in the process, and got the crucial break in the following game just before the suspension. Baghdatis has lost eight consecutive tournament matches! In other two-day battle Lukasz Kubot saved two set points in a 3rd set tie-break to defeat qualifier Maxime Teixeira 6-4 5-7 7-6(7) 6-2 – it’s the first time in history that three Polish players have advanced to the second round of a major. I had an impression that Novak Djokovic in his opening match against David Goffin wanted to save as much energy as possible thinking already about a very probable clash with Nadal in the semifinals. The Serb won 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5 taking advantage of Goffin’s errors in latter stages of all sets. “He did really well at the start, and throughout all the match he was playing really nice tennis from baseline,” said the World No. 1 “It was a tough match. I needed to fight all the way through every set, and I served well when I needed to and played my best tennis when it was most important.” In the second round, Djokovic will face Guido Pella, who notched first GS win overcoming Ivan Dodig 4-6 6-4 6-3 2-6 12-10 in 3 hours, 24 minutes. Four players retired, Bernard Tomic for the second time this year facing Victor Hanescu (previously in Dubai).

Longest match: 4 hours, 34 minutes. Horacio Zeballos d. Vasek Pospisil 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-7(4), 2-6, 8-6
Most aces: 23 – Pospisil, lost to Zeballos

5-set barometer: 3-4 Ivan Dodig, 2-0 Horacio Zeballos, 1-0 Guido Pella, 1-2 Vasek Pospisil

The second Grand Slam of the year is deprived of two major champions and last years quarter-finalists: Andy Murray (back problems) and Juan Martin del Potro (virus). The lack of Murray is exceptionally interesting for the progress of the tournament because the Scot reached at least quarterfinal in his last nine major appearances (eight times semifinal or better). The last year finalists, Ragfael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are in the same section of the draw which means that if Roger Federer doesn’t advance to the final, at least one finalist will be considered as unexpected.

15 matches on Day 1 (Sunday), 29 on the following day. Tomas Berdych vs. Gael Monfils looked like the most intriguing first round match-up on paper, and indeed it was a very interesting match between a very solid current Top 10’er and a player who was in the Top 10 two years ago, but recently returns to the Top 100. The Frenchman needed five set points to take the opening set. A break in the 3rd game of the 2nd set gave him a two-sets-to-love lead, but Berdych comes back from the brink more often than anyone else in 2013. The Czech survived another two sets in tie-breaks being two points away from loss in set No. 4. Losing two tie-break sets and winning a match is extremely tough task #, but this match depended on serve above all, Monfils was broken just once in four sets and it gave him a solid base to believe in victory despite unfortunate circumstances. The crucial game of the match came in the 6th game of the final set when Monfils fought off a triple break point. He broke in the 11th game and served the match convincingly at ’15’. “It’s a unique moment because I have not won such matches for a long time, and I have not performed, if I can say, mentally, physically,” said Monfils. “It’s one of the best ones I have played here. I believed I would win during the whole match. I have gone through very difficult moments, so you get tougher.” There were other dramatic five-setters: Gilles Simon in front of his mother almost suffered the worst defeat of his career – he blew a 5:0* lead in the 5th set against a 5-set specialist Lleyton Hewitt, but took easily two games from 5-all (winning eight points in a row) to win 3-6 1-6 6-4 6-1 7-5. Simon next meets Pablo Cuevas [732], who didn’t play two years because of right knee injury. The 27-year-old Uruguayan saved two match points on return in the 5th set against Adrian Mannarino. Juan Monaco had a mini-match point in the 3rd set against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, and led *4:1 in a tie-break shortly afterwards, only to lose for the fourth time in career despite a 2-0 advantage in sets (third time against a Spaniard), 6-4 6-4 6-7(4) 4-6 4-6. From 3-all in the 3rd set, Paulo Lorenzi won 11 consecutive games against Tobias Kamke, but when the German snapped the streak at *0:2 in the 5th set, he was in command to the end of his 6-3 6-3 3-6 0-6 6-3 victory. Other German, Daniel Brands after winning the 1st set, jumped to a 3:0 in a tie-break of the 2nd set against 7-time champion Rafael Nadal. Brands [59] was in trance at the moment, and attacked Nadal’s second serve with his powerful forehand; if the ball was good he would probably take stunningly 2nd set, however, he missed just 10-15 cm, and Nadal took the control of the match winning the tie-break 7/4 and breaking Brands three times after that (he couldn’t do it in first two sets even once)t: 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-3. “He was playing unbelievable,” said Nadal. “I just tried to find my game and tried to resist his fantastic shots. He played a fantastic match and put me in a very difficult situation. I’m very happy to be through.” 18-year-old Nick Kyrgios [262] received a wild card to his first main-level tournament and notched a valuable win overcoming veteran Radek Stepanek in three tie-breaks ##. In the 2nd tie-break Kyrgios saved six set points (!): 1:6 & 7:8, in the third one three more (6:7, 8:9, 10:11). “My goal today was just to go out there and enjoy every moment and give my best effort from the first point to the last. If I won today it was a bonus,” said Kyrgios. Robin Haase has ended his infamous streak of 17 tie-breaks lost in a row. The Dutchman, who couldn’t win a tie-break at the main-level since February 1, 2012, ousted a tall Frenchman, Kenny de Schepper 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3. It doesn’t happen often that two players face each other twice within one week: Michal Przysiezny defeated Rhyne Williams in his last qualifying match, Williams got into the main draw as a “lucky loser” and lost to the Pole again, this time taking a set off him. Przysiezny is one of three Poles participating in this year’s French Open; as many Poles as during the French Open ’13 were just once in a major, also in Paris (1970) – Wieslaw Gasiorek, Mieczyslaw Rybarczyk & Tadeusz Nowicki.

# French Open matches in which the winner lost sets No. 3 & 4 in tie-breaks:

1977: Rolf Norberg d. Pavel Slozil 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5
1977: Brian Fairlie d. Yannick Noah 6-1, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2
1986: Yannick Noah d. Tarik Benhabiles 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-7(8), 6-4
1990: Paul Haarhuis d. Jim Pugh 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-7(6), 7-5
1992: Chris Pridham d. Stephane Simian 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 6-3
1994: Henrik Holm d. Stefan Edberg 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-7(2), 6-7(8), 6-4
2013: Gael Monfils d. Tomas Berdych 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5

## All-tie-break 3-setters at the French Open:

1998: Marzio Martelli d. Goran Ivanisevic 7-6(3), 7-6(6), 7-6(2)
2006: Ivo Karlovic d. Olivier Patience 7-6(6), 7-6(1), 7-6(10)
2008: Albert Montanes d. Kristof Vliegen 7-6(5), 7-6(2), 7-6(3)
2008: Wayne Odesnik d. Guillermo Canas 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 7-6(8)
2009: Victor Hanescu d. Steve Darcis 7-6(8), 7-6(5), 7-6(3)
2013: Nick Kyrgios d. Radek Stepanek 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(11)

Longest match: 4 hours, 3 minutes. Gael Monfils d. Tomas Berdych 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5
Most aces: 26 – Monfils, defeated Berdych

5-set barometer: 31-19 Lleyton Hewitt, 17-8 Feliciano Lopez, 17-9 Jarkko Nieminen, 16-8 Tomas Berdych, 14-11 Andreas Seppi, 11-5 Gael Monfils, 11-6 Gilles Simon, 9-11 Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-2 Albert Montanes, 6-3 Marcel Granollers, 4-9 Juan Monaco, 3-2 Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 3-3 Pablo Cuevas, 2-1 Adrian Mannarino, 2-2 Tobias Kamke, 0-3 Leonardo Mayer, Steve Johnson & Paolo Lorenzi