The first day of the 2015 French Open is in the books, and it came with a bit of controversy. However, we’ll save the discussion of that controversy for a different time as we are here to recap the first day on the Parisian clay.
The Swiss Contingency Starts Off Strong
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka got their French Open campaign to a smooth start as the Swiss men completed straight set victories. Federer, the man who was involved in the controversy, won with ease over Alejandro Falla. The Colombian hung in with him during the first set, but a late break from Federer sealed the first set. It would just take a break of serve in each set to dispatch the Colombian 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. By no means did Falla play poorly hitting 30 winners, but the world number two was just too good on the day. Wawrinka took care of Marsel Ilhan with ease winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. His forehand was his big shot today hitting nearly double the winners on that side in comparison to his favored backhand. It was also a good day for Wawrinka on his return of serve winning nearly 50% of points when Ilhan was serving. Federer faces off against Marcel Granollers in the next round while Wawrinka meets Dusan Lajovic.
Tsonga Wins First Grand Slam Match of the Year
It’s been an injury-plagued season for the Frenchman and world number 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He missed the first few months of the season with a forearm injury. After returning to the courts during the first half of the American Masters swing, he looked like a shell of himself when playing there, likely due to being precautionary with his arm. Today however, he looked back to his old self knocking off Christian Lindell in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. It was his favorite forehand that was on point today hitting 20 winners off of that side. The stats that truly showcase his dominance are 91% of first serve points won and 51% of return points won. The tennis universe is enthralled to see Tsonga back for his home slam. His second round match is against Israeli Dudi Sela.
Ana Ivanovic Escapes Another First-Round Shocker
It’s been a disappointing 2015 season so far for Ana Ivanovic. After starting the year off brightly with a finals appearance in Brisbane, it all came crashing down once she lost to Lucie Hradecka after being a set up in the Australian Open. Since then, she’s been a woeful 8-7 and came into the match losing a first round match in Rome to qualifier Daria Gavrilova. After dropping the first set, 4-6, to Yaroslava Shvedova, it was beginning to look like the same script that has been written for this season- another early exit in a major tournament. Her serving was poor in the first set as she hit four double faults compared to one ace, and that has been the recurring theme of her career. In the final two sets, she righted the ship on her serve hitting four aces compared to one double fault in the final two sets. As well as her serving improvements, she made better shot choices and was more patient on when she needed to go for shots hitting 19 winners to 12 unforced errors in the final two sets which she won 6-2, 6-0. With veteran Misaki Doi next, this tournament could be the turning point in Ivanovic’s season as her draw opened up today with the losses of 24th seeded Peng Shuai and 31st seeded Caroline Garcia. Anything less than a fourth round appearance now for Ivanovic would be considered a failure.
Halep Challenged In Straight Sets Victory
World number three Simona Halep started her road to another French Open final, but it came with a bit of difficulty. Evgeniya Rodina gave Halep quite a challenge despite losing in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. Rodina had her chances breaking Halep with three times, but the Romanian showed her fine set of skills throughout the match to break the Russian five times. Both women struggled to win points on their second serves as they both won less than half of them. The real difference was return points won between these two. Halep won more than half of the points while returning while Rodina won 36%. Halep has had her fair share of challenges on the clay this season, but the French Open was where she made her maiden Grand Slam final. Despite the struggles, look for Halep to remain a contender for the title. Next up for Halep is journeywoman Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Update On The French
French women went 0-3 today, highlighted by the loss of 31st seed Caroline Garcia. Garcia led one set to love over Serbian Donna Vekic, but the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd may have gotten to Garcia. Oceane Dodin fell in three sets after also having a one set lead, and Fiona Ferro lost in straights to Misaki Doi. The men fared better going 2-1. We already discussed Tsonga earlier, and Nicolas Mahut joined him in the winner's column with his straight sets victory over Kimmer Coppejans. Paul Henri-Mathieu was the only man to lose today losing to the fifth seed Kei Nishikori in straights. Mathieu was up a break in the second, but Nishikori got it back and added another break to take the set.
Update On The Americans
American women fared just as well as the French women today… winless. Wildcard Louisa Chirico was taken care of easily by the nine seed, Ekaterina Makarova. Lauren Davis nearly came back from a set down to knock off Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, but the Croat held on to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Steve Johnson was the lone American man to play today and delivered a victory without some drama. He was up two sets to love and was at one point just two points away from a straight sets victory, but Guillermo Garcia-Lopez delivered a phenomenal comeback to take the third and fourth sets. Johnson was poor in the two sets he lost as he was forcing shots and hitting unforced errors which were not there in the first two sets. Garcia-Lopez broke early in the fifth, and it looked all done and dusted but Johnson used his grit and grind to get the two breaks he needed to win. Next up for Johnson is the winner of Berankis and Stakhovsky.
Update On The Seeds
Roberto Bautista-Agut, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Ernests Gulbis won in straight sets today. Should Gulbis win in the second round over Mahut, he would have matched his win total on the year at the French Open. The only seed to fall today on the men’s side was the big-serving Croat, Ivo Karlovic, losing to Marcos Baghdatis in straights. Other than the two women we have talked about already, Peng Shuai and Caroline Garcia, the rest of the seeded women won, headlined by 2014 French Open quarterfinalist Garbine Muguruza. Lucie Safarova won in two tight tiebreakers over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and it took Flavia Pennetta three sets to complete her victory over Magda Linette.
Tomorrow's Matches to Watch For:
Alize Cornet - Roberta Vinci: The Frenchwoman knocked off Simona Halep in their meeting in Madrid. Look for her to try and play the role of spoiler for Halep again as they are in the same section of the draw.
Sloane Stephens - Venus Williams: Two Americans, one a rising star who has dropped off since her breakout season while the other is a veteran who has put it together in her final years of her career, face off in one of the best first round matchups the draw has offered. Stephens has consistently had her best performances in the slams at the French. The French is the only title to have eluded Venus Williams in her illustrious career.
Denis Istomin - Nick Kyrgios: On paper, this looks like a cakewalk for the 30th seeded Australian, however Istomin is the type of player who is going to annoy you with his style of play. He’s not super consistent, but he will get balls back and force Kyrgios to hit an extra shot. Look for Istomin to try and snatch a set, and should he take it early, an upset might be on the cards.
Borna Coric - Sam Querrey: The young gun who put his name on the map last year after upsetting Nadal in Basel will look to continue his rise up the rankings with a win over the American. Clay is the surface in which the Croat has played his best tennis on which cannot be said about his opponent. If Coric wants to stamp his authority as the player to be watching out for in the next five to ten years, it starts tomorrow with what should be a victory over Sam Querrey.
Top seeds playing tomorrow: Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Maria Sharapova, and Carla Suarez Navarro.