2014, Roland Garros
Roland Garros, Paris
Picking a clear favorite of this final wasn’t the easiest task. Of course, Nadal had a mental advantage over his opponent on this particular Court Philippe Chartier, as an 8-time champion & winner of their all five previous Parisian encounters, yet Djokovic won their last four meetings (8-1 in sets, having easily won all those eight sets). The initial stage confirmed that the Serbian player rediscovered his 2011 pattern of beating Rafa as he took the 1st set in 44 minutes thanks to one break of serve in the 8th game – in the
The Spaniard improved to a 65-1 record at Roland Garros with a sensational win over Murray. Nadal came out all-guns blazing. He was impressive in his tactical execution early on, mainly firing serves to Murray’s backhand before moving up the court to strike a powerful winner. Only Djokovic, in recent times, has appeared to have been able to counter the ploy with well-placed crosscourt returns. Nadal, who has lost just once at Roland Garros in the past 10 years, looked in ominous form and took advantage of Murray’s slow start to take a 3:0* lead. Having started to strike good forehand length against his compatriot Ferrer in a quarter-final win, Nadal used his
Djokovic is one match win away from reclaiming No. 1. Should he triumph at Roland Garros in Sunday’s final, he would also become the eighth man in tennis history to complete a career Grand Slam. Second seed and 2012 runner-up Djokovic advanced to his 13th Grand Slam championship final on a sun-kissed Friday in Paris. Gulbis, who will break into the Top 10 for the first time on Monday, was in a confident mood at the start of his first major semi-final. The Latvian started with a love service hold and clever interplay near the net in the 4th game, resulted in Gulbis slicing a backhand winner down the line for 15/40 on Djokovic’s serve. Gulbis could not convert either opportunity, but minutes later he would rue missing the first point – a routine backhand off a second serve. Though he was able to get good kick on his serve in the hot conditions, poorly executed volleys and backhand errors cost Gulbis. He got out of jail on two occasions, but Djokovic showed great mental resilience to clinch the first break for a 3:2 lead. Djokovic remained workmanlike as two set point opportunities came and
Murray silenced French supporters by beating Monfils in a bizarre five-setter on Court Philippe Charier in their first meeting since November ’10, finished at 9:40 p.m. Murray has advanced to a British-record 14th Grand Slam championship semi-final. The 27-year-old Scot is also the 10th man to reach multiple semi-finals at all four majors. Should he reach the milestone in the French capital, he would become the first British man to capture a clay-court singles title since Buster Mottram at 1975 Palma. Fred Perry was the last British man to lift the Roland Garros trophy in 1935. In their sixth H2H clash, contested in windy conditions, Murray broke first in the 2nd
After rolling past four unseeded players, Nadal faced his first big test of the 2014 Roland Garros championships on Wednesday when he came up against Ferrer in a rematch of last year’s final. The eight-time Roland Garros champion lost the opening set, but roared back to beat his fellow Spaniard and the darkness in the rain-delayed quarter-final match on Court Suzanne Lenglen. “I am rather happy to have been able to turn the situation around,” said Nadal. “I managed to pull through. Even though it was complicated, I managed to find solutions
Djokovic is two match wins away from reclaiming No. 1 and becoming the eighth man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam. By reaching the semi-finals, Djokovic will return to No. 1 unless Nadal wins his ninth Roland Garros title. Second seed and 2012 runner-up Djokovic defeated eighth seed Raonic on Court hilippe Chartier for a place in the semi-finals against No. 18 seed Gulbis. Djokovic has a 4-1
The last eight players to defeat Federer at a Grand Slam tournament lost in their next match. Gulbis broke the spell on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Two days after knocking out the World No. 4, the Latvian raced past World No. 6 Berdych to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final in second Parisian quarterfinal (2008). He extended his winning streak to nine matches and his season mark on French soil to 13-0. “It’s very special,” Gulbis said in an on-court interview. “Today was the best match of the tournament. I did everything well. I felt physically so good, felt that I can run forever, that he cannot make winners. That’s how I felt on court. I felt that I covered it really
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will face David Ferrer in a re-match of the 2013 Roland Garros final in Wednesday’s quarter-finals after dismissing Dusan Lajovic 6-1 6-2 6-1 on Monday in Paris. “I think that I am playing a little bit better than when I was playing against him in Monte-Carlo, but I think he’s playing great, too,” said Nadal. “He played three weeks in a row at a very high level. In Madrid he played great, in Rome he played great, and he’s playing great here.” Ferrer
Rafael Nadal is through to the fourth round of the French Open without dropping a set after defeating Leonardo Mayer on Court Philippe Chatrier. After the match Nadal hugged Jerome Golmard, who was watching the King court-side in a wheelchair (the Frenchman is diagnosed with ALS)… The eight-time champion overcame a few sticky moments in the 2nd set (he was two points away from losing it at *4:5) to see off the Argentinian 6-2 7-5 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes to equal his record of 31 consecutive wins in Paris. Nadal had been hugely impressive in defeating rising star Thiem in round two and he started in the same vein against Mayer. It was the first warm and sunny day of the tournament, which helped Nadal’s extreme spin fizz off the clay. He has dropped only 19 games this year, heading into a match against 83rd-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, who is in only the second Grand Slam tournament of his career and beat Jack Sock 6-4
Japan’s Kei Nishikori [10] has become the first major casualty at Roland Garros. World No. 59 Martin Klizan proved too strong for fellow 24-year-old Nishikori in a 7-6(4) 6-1 6-2 first-round victory on Monday. “The key was [winning] the first set,” said Klizan. “We were breaking each other four times in the first set. I was down *3:5, so it was [a] very, very tough comeback. [Once] I won the first then, then I think I was the better player on the court… I was
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HIGHLIGHTS:
First round:
Bagnis d. Benneteau
Third round:
Murray d. Kohlschreiber, Monfils d. Fognini, Raonic d. Simon, Federer d. Tursunov,
Tsonga d. Janowicz, Djokovic d. Cilic, Verdasco d. Gasquet
Fourth round::
Berdych d. Isner, Gulbis d. Federer, Raonic d. Granollers, Djokovic d. Tsonga, Nadal d. Lajovic,
Ferrer d. Anderson, Monfils d. Garcia-Lopez, Murray d. Verdasco
Quarterfinals:
Gulbis d. Berdych, Djokovic d. Raonic, Nadal d. Ferrer, Murray d. Monfils
Semifinals:
Djokovic d. Gulbis, Nadal d. Murray
Final:
Nadal d. Djokovic
Best in 5-setters after the event (at least 10 played):
.778 – Robredo (14-4)
.762 – Nadal (16-5)
.739 – Murray (17-6)
.714 – Djokovic (20-8)
.714 – Granollers (10-4)
.700 – Garcia-Lopez (7-3)
.692 – Cilic (18-8)
Most comebacks from 0-2 in sets:
8 – Federer
7 – Murray
6 – Robredo, Hewitt
5 – Wawrinka, Verdasco, Youzhny
4 – Ferrer, Seppi, Granollers
Scorelines