Roland Garros – Day 3, 4 (1R)

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