Day 2 at Roland Garros

Today, was a tough day for the French tennis players. Arnuad Clement, fell in 5 sets to rising star, Oleksandr Dolgopolov. Richard Gasquet, lost in five sets to Andy Murray. And Gael Monfils squeezed by Dieter Kindlmann, in 4. However, the quality of tennis, played in all 3 of these matches was outstanding.

Gasquet and Murray, were first up. Gasquet, was a force to be reckoned with, right from the start of the match. He pounded away at Murray, eventually breaking him and going up two sets to love, taking the second set in a tie-break. In set 3 Gasquet, managed to gain another break on Murray, but this time the Scott answered him, by returning the favor. Murray, won the set 6-4. From that point on Murray was able to dominate Gasquet, putting him away in 5.

The Clement/Dolgopolov, match was also closely contested. At first, I thought Clement, was going to run away with it because he won the first set, rather convincingly, 6-3. However, Dolgopolov, remained determined, not to lose in the first round. He held strong and forced a second set tie-break, where he overcame Clement, with some deftly placed drop-shots. The players split the next two sets and in set five, youth prevailed, as Dolgopolov, was clearly fresher than his 33 year old opponent. Clement, didn't go down easily though, he made Dolgopolov, earn it by saving several break points. Still, it wasn't enough to prevent the inevitable. After 3 hours and 45 minutes, Dolgopolov, prevailed, making this his first grand slam match victory.

Finally, there was the match between Gael Monfils and Dieter Kindlmann. This was probably my favorite of the 3 that I saw, because Monfils, is such a talented athlete, you never know what kind of shot he's going to come up with. I was kind of surprised to see Kindlmann, win the third set, especially since he had to come from behind to do it. Monfils, was the over-all better player for most of the match. I think he's got the potential to go a long ways in this tournament, especially given the draw. He will have to face Federer in the fourth round but given Roger's recent inconsistencies he may even have a shot at winning that match.

Anyway, there should be a lot more interesting matches, in the coming rounds. I'll be back tomorrow, with my thoughts on Nadal's form. Until then, adios.