French Open 2015 - Day 8

First topic message reminder :

Philippe-Chatrier Court
11:00 AM

Women's Singles - Round 4
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [19] vs. Alize Cornet (FRA) [29]

Men's Singles - Round 4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [14] vs. Tomas Berdych (CZE) [4]

Men's Singles - Round 4
Gael Monfils (FRA) [13] vs. Roger Federer (SUI) [2]

Women's Singles - Round 4
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) [28] vs. Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [21]

Suzanne-Lenglen Court
11:00 AM

Women's Singles - Round 4
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) [7] vs. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [9]

Men's Singles - Round 4
Kei Nishikori (JPN) [5] vs. Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)

Men's Singles - Round 4
Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [8] vs. Gilles Simon (FRA) [12]

Women's Singles - Round 4
Lucie Safarova (CZE) [13] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2]

Read more at http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/schedule/index.html#qV78Xd0KIYm0U0Ow.99

Well I mean its straight sets or no day off really. With Stan nearly finished

We have a match.

Not surprising really, but still masses of crowd support for Fed.

As for Stan watch, hes 5-2 double break. Hes probably about 5 mins from rapping up

Good hold from Monfils; Fed was really trying to go all out and break.

Think I want Monfils to win. Fed better off resting up for Wimby. Surely no chance at RG, particularly with a dodgy back. Doesn't even need the ranking points to hold number 2 spot.

Thats it, Fed or Monf wil take on the Stanimal, whos looked quitely quite good

Did not see any of Stan's match, but it was a very easy win based on what the scoreline says.  He is playing better than I thought he would.  I kind of expected him to lose early to some nobody.

Has Feds deffo got a bad back?

Where has the bad back come from?? nobody KNOWS that

Truffin inside knowledge.

What a game from Fed to break.

Impressive from Monfils to take the set.

If there is no rain, they should be able to play two more sets, or maybe even three quick ones.

So Monfils/Federer will come back tomorrow level at one set all. Not ideal by any means.

Huh? Why did they suspend the play? It did not look like it was raining. My stream did not have commentary, so puzzled.

Cannot see Fed being solid enough to get past Gael. There is always a chink in his armour when playing the lanky athlete. Well atleast the French crowd went quiet after Stan routined the pusher

They had a word with both players, seems like they agreed to go off - strange. Intriguingly poised though, still think Monfils will wrap it up pretty easily tomorrow. Fed's back looks absolutely fine though, he didn't seem impaired. Berdych was the one who struggled with that, in the end!

Stan looked extremely good today, Simon had a catastrophic first set but played well from then on. Hard to evaluate Nish due to limited opposition, but he should be favourite against Tsonga?

RG website says because of fading light? I thought they had another couple of hours of decent light. Interesting. It is still one hour to sunset in Paris and I am sure I remember them play matches past 10pm, but I suppose with all the clouds it was darker than usual?

I agree, I think Monfils has a very good chance to win the match. He has been giving Federer problems recently. I think he may have won one set or so in their first 5-6 matches, but since then he is more than holding his own.

If Monfils plays well, these days Fed is probably at best around 50/50 to win.

It is important for Monfils that he broke Fed right back. After Federer broke and went up 30-0 on his serve, Monfils could have easily given up on that game.

The break may help Federer, if the weather forecast is any different. Shot making is pretty good from both sides.

There was enough light to continue the match SB, but not enough to insist that the match be continued against the wishes of both players.

I think players can be selfish in those cases, and could have thought slightly more about the fact that more people can watch in on TV on Sunday, as well as the people there in the stadium. I think they should have played one more set at least.

Quickly looking at a couple of bookies, they make this about 65% Federer, 35% Monfils. I did think Federer did not really look like he was playing well, but still seemed to have marginally more than Monfils.

However whichever of them wins looks way below Nadal and Djokovic in their level.

summerblues wrote:I agree, I think Monfils has a very good chance to win the match.  He has been giving Federer problems recently.  I think he may have won one set or so in their first 5-6 matches, but since then he is more than holding his own.

If Monfils plays well, these days Fed is probably at best around 50/50 to win.

......................................

Sums things up neatly I'd say.

Federer was simply too good in all three of their previous RG clashes, but they were both different players back then. When they met last year at the USO, Monfils should have won. Now he has a better tennis brain to complement the ever-impressive speed & athleticism. Coupled with Federer's gradual decline in movement and ability to dominate opponents in the way once he did, the odds are firmly in favour of Gael tomorrow.

Yeah, usual Fed formula of decent start followed by fade. Probably good for him to come off and hopefully have dryer weather to get a bit more ping on the ball.

He's quite painful to watch these days, any little kid watching being told how great he is must wonder what they're smoking.

Henman Bill wrote:There was enough light to continue the match SB, but not enough to insist that the match be continued against the wishes of both players.

I think players can be selfish in those cases, and could have thought slightly more about the fact that more people can watch in on TV on Sunday, as well as the people there in the stadium. I think they should have played one more set at least.

The only thing I'd say is that those conditions make anyone look trash. Like playing on soufflé with a marshmallow.

bogbrush wrote:

.....................................

He's quite painful to watch these days, any little kid watching being told how great he is must wonder what they're smoking.

Hmm......well, I agree to an extent - though not entirely.

I'd like to think that a little kid too young to remember his halcyon days would be told his great he was (rather than 'is' ....)

In one respect, it's very similar to the case of an iconic footballer who can still show touches of the old magic, but can no longer maintain the quality through the duration of a match. Then again, a football match can be won with a single moment of magic, whereas the prime currency of tennis is of course consistency.

I'd say Federer has performed very respectably (though obviously not fantastically) in the season to date. There have been eight meetings v top ten players, of which he has won six - including a victory in straights over the World No.1 (who has only lost one other match). And given that his two losses also involved Djokovic, it's not been bad. But the other defeats came against the sort of players he would have handled much better in times past, and he is much more vulnerable to anyone who turns up with their best game, regardless of ranking or pedigree.

Edit : yep, easy to forget from the armchair just how difficult it is to play well in those conditions. Forecast more encouraging for tomorrow's schedule.

Haddie-nuff wrote:Where has the bad back come from?? nobody KNOWS that

The rumors are from the practice the day before- a French journalist mentioned fed cut his practice with a French junior short- suddenly and without explanation. Fans from Feds official website that were there said he was havinga relaxed practice, smiling and suddenly became serious and ended it. Spoke with his physiology and left suddenly, skipping his usual after practice auotgraph session. So the assumption always goes to the back as the culprit, but he could just as easily felt a twinge somewhere else and stopped as a precaution.

I didn't see the usual signs of his back today. Usually if shows when he bends to return serve, he arms his serves more, and movement degrades. I didn't see any of that today so it was hopefully just him being careful. His serve % did drop a lot from set 1 to 2 but maybe conditions or pressure caused that.

I'm not sure what to ezpext tomorrow in the match. Fed didn't look fantastic, but even when Monfils upped his level, it was pretty even.

Btw- the rains came down 15 minutes after the players left court and kept up for an hour. Officials must have seen the radar and when players were told, they all agreed to come back tomorrow.

TRuffin wrote:Btw- the rains came down 15 minutes after the players left court and kept up for an hour.  Officials must have seen the radar and when players were told, they all agreed to come back tomorrow.

Ok, that makes more sense. Without rain, they had to have at least one - but quite likely two - sets' worth of time to play. But knowing the rain was likely to hit within 15 minutes I can see why they would have decided to call it off.

Too bad, I was hoping to see more of the match and obviously will not be able to see it tomorrow.

But I am taking a day off work on Wednesday - unless Rafa or Nole fail to advance.

Well knowing that piece of info .
Being one set all it is perfectly reasonable decision
Level playing field!!

Haddie-nuff wrote:Well knowing that piece of info .
Being one set all it is perfectly reasonable decision
Level playing field!!

Agreed, it would have been very unfair on someone if they'd pulled them off at 2-1. Whoever wins has it all to do against Stan on Tuesday though, so regardless of the victor I hope it's a quick four setter in the morning.

Then bring on the tough half!

Personally, I think both guys made a mistake. I mean Fed could have gone on a hot streak and closed the thing out in a hour or so. From Monfil's perspective he had just recaptured momentum. Now the winner of this match is going to probably have to play back to back days. Also it is a crap shoot, because ala Djoko v. Nadal who knows what happens on the second day. It is like a second new match. Monfil's especially in my mind should have kept his momentum up he now doesn't really have a chance to use his superior speed and fitness.

Nishikori is really impressing me, I know he hasn't been challenged but this is a player who has really made a step up in class the last 12 months. His speed is among the best, his return among the best and he is one of the top 3 backhands on tour. And does everything else pretty well. He still I think needs to work on his second serve although he is defending it pretty well this year it is not up to the quality of a Djoko, Nadal, or Fed. If he stays healthy I think he has at least a slam or two in him. I wouldn't be surprised if he came out of this half. I think he takes Tsonga pretty easily, Fed will be a challenge but if he faces Monfils in the semi I think his superior consistency and well rounded game will make easy work of him.

Yep, Nishikori has definitely moved up to a whole new level, and his game seems to have everything to keep him amongst the elite for some time to come. Good to watch.

One of those rare cases where the old chestnut "I believe he's big in Japan...." can be said with real meaning ; as opposed to the backhanded compliment aimed at second-rate celebs/sportsmen .......

We will find out where he is at against Tsonga. I think he will take that matchup lags. But you never know as Jo will have big support and he is player similarly to Gael who feeds off that energy. If he plays like he did the first two sets against Berdych he will be hard to stop for anyone. Kei is really knocking on the door if he can get to the finals here it will be his second final in three slams. A sure sign that he is a player of slam winning quality.

I like Nishikori and he's playing good tennis but, my word, he's had a cupcake.

In the quarter finals after only three matches, all against unseeded players.

HM Murdoch wrote:I like Nishikori and he's playing good tennis but, my word, he's had a cupcake.

In the quarter finals after only three matches, all against unseeded players.

True, he hasn't been tested in his path to the QF, but you can hardly hold that against him. Most of us would have taken Verdasco (seeded last at 32) to come through v Becker - but Becker narrowly edged it, only to then have to withdraw, giving Nishi the w/o. So, an accident of circumstance really. Of the 'customary' big four, only Murray had to face any real threat in the shape of a seed over the first three rounds ......so that apart, they've all been leading a charmed life until now.