MURRAY SHOWS FORM IN FRANCE
The French Open. Not traditionally the easiest of Grand Slams for Brits to get a grip on. The fact the most Davis Cup opponents will put us on to clay courts if given the chance says all you need to know about our usual prospects at this tournament. However, Andy Murray spent a couple of years as a teenager training on clay courts in Spain. Even he didn't have an awesome record going into this tournament though, though he did pick up a quarter final spot in the Madrid Masters which wasn't so bad. And he was the number 3 seed going into this tournament. So, could he seriously be competitive at Roland Garros of all places? It wasn't a completely insane idea.
In the first round was Juan Chela. The Argie may have been unseeded this time around but he's no mug on clay. Andy's serve was broken in the opening game but he then came back to take the opening set. Andy then struggled to hold the opening game of the second set but after that, cruised though to go two sets up. The third set proved to be no worries for Andy either, a crucial break late on in the set was enough to secure him a 6-2-6-2 6-1 lead. That got people's attention. It was his second French Open first round win in a row and there was definately a hint of more to come. If he could take out the likes of Chela easilly then his next opponent shouldn't be a problem.
His next opponent was an Italian called Pollito Starace. Well the first set was smooth enough for Andy, so far so good. Things just completely fell apart in the second set though and Starace took full advantage, easilly winning the set and forcing a fourth set down the line. Strarace looked to be dominating the third set as well, and had the British number 1 at his mercy. Suddenly though, Andy found another gear and came up with six straight winning games to turn the set and match around. The fourth set was a tight rumble but Andy broke when he needed to and though Starace is certainly a name I'll remember in future, the bottom line is that Andy won 6-3 2-6 7-5 6-4 to match last year's performance and reach the third round.
His third round opponent was Janko Tipserevic. Well the Serb dominated the early stages of the first set and looked certain to take it only for Andy to force a tiebreak which he won. The second set proved much smoother, the Tipserevic serve broken immediately and Andy found himself two sets up. However Tipserevic was having injury problems throughout that second set and in the end had to retire with Murray 7-6(7-3) 6-3 up. For Andy, it meant his first ever apearance in the French Open 4th round. He also became the first Brit to reach this stage of the competition since Tim Henman in '04. Brilliant work so far, question was, how much further could he go?
The 4th round saw him face Marin Cilic. The first set looked way too close to call but Andy managed to break Cilic's serve at the last possible moment to take the set. The second set proved to be even tighter though. As in tiebreak. That proved to be nothing that Andy couldn't handle however and he went two sets up. In the third set though, Cilic just appeared to run out of fuel. "Fine by me" said Andy, and he cruised through to win 7-5 7-6(7-4) 6-1. He was now one of only three British men to have reached the quarter finals of the French Open, and given that one of those guys was Fred Perry that gives you a pretty good idea of the sort of territory he was in.
In the quarter finals, Any faced Chille's Fernando Gonzalez, a guy he hadn't faced for ages. The early stages of the first set were evens but it was the Murray serve that broke and Gonzales took the first set. However late in the second set the Chilean started to run into trouble and Andy took the second set, forcing a fourth down the line. He had no answer for Gonzalez in the third set though, his game falling to pieces as the Chilean anhiliated him. To an extent, Andy got his act together again in the fourth set but when it mattered, the number 3 seed hit all the wrong notes. It turned out to be a case of "better luck next time" with Andy crashing out 3-6 6-3 0-6 4-6.
The men's semi finals still looked interesting with Gonzalez going up against Sweden's Robin Soderling(who had somhow managed to knock out Rafael Nadal!). The Chilean proved to be nothing that Soderling couldn't handle either and the Swede won 6-3 7-5 5-7 4-6 6-4. In the other semi Roger Federer found himself up against Juan Martin del Potro with the Swiss legend in the making having a rought time early on but came back to win 3-6 7-6(7-2) 2-6 6-1 6-4. Federer vs Soderling in the final. For Federer it was his fourth French Open final in a row. As for Soderling, he was the first Swede to reach the final at Roland Garros since 2000!
In the meantime, the women's tournament was also taking place and the finqal was an all-Russian affair between Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Well neither woman could hold serve early on but it was Kuznetsova that held on to take the first set. She then stepped up another gear to win the match 6-4 6-2. Kuznetsova picked up her first French Open title and it was the first won by a Russian woman since Anastasia Myskina in 2004. That match was also an all Russian affair with Myskina beating Elena Dimentieva on that occasion. Congratulatiions to Kuznetsova and it'll be interesting to see if she can repeat her feat at Wimbledon.
Finally though, we had the men's final Federer and Soderling. Well Soderling must have run out of fuel just getting this far because Federer had his number in the first set. The second set proved to be much tighter and went as far as a tiebreak, only for Federer to outclass his opponent again. Soderling remained competitive in the third set but Federer retained his edge, only to seemingly lose it an the end. However he held on to win the match 6-1 7-6(7-2) 6-4. For some, it was a foregone conclusion, if Federer couldn't beat an unknown Swede then he would never win this trophy. However, the fact is, the Swiss star made it a demo session at times.
So, Roger Federer is the 2009 French Open champion. It's amazing to think that this is the first time in his career that he has wom this particular trophy. Not only that, he's the first Swiss man ever to win this trophy and the tournament has a history going back to 1891! He's now won all four Grand Slams at one point or another in his career. Does that make him the best ever? I'd have thought Nadal would have something to say about that. However, this triumph, like the one in the US Open last year has proved that despite the rise of his Spanish rival he is not going away any time soon and is surely one of the favourites for the remaining two Slams of the year.
Click here to go to 'other sports' archive
Comments go here
