Wimbledon 2009 – Daily Preview (Day 1) Men’s

Federer's warm welcome to officially open the 2009 Championships was probably a mixture of affection for the five-time champion and approval for his eye-catching and stylish apparel - long trousers, jacket with the collar turned up and, underneath that, a fitted waistcoat, all in white and all discarded prior to the Swiss marching out to hold his first two service games to love.

Roger Federer justified his role as favourite to win the 2009 men's title by swatting aside the challenge of Yen-Hsun Lu from Taipei 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 on a Centre Court where, despite overcast conditions, the new roof remained open throughout.

Blake was not so lucky against Andreas Seppi. Seppi is the chap who once confessed self-depreciatingly to booking his flight home before even taking to the court against Nadal. But the Italian can bash a ball, as Blake discovered, and his 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 victory was relatively straightforward, leaving Blake to consider how his excellent run at Queen's led to this.

Verdasco, an Australian Open semi-finalist this year, spelled out the pattern of the match in the opening game, where his swashbuckling strokeplay plundered an immediate break. That was the case today when the number seven seed Fernando Verdasco saw off James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic survived an endurance test against Frenchman Julien Benetteau to win through to the second round but he needed three hours and 28 minutes of concerted effort to complete the job.

Benettau, in his sixth Wimbledon, shocked Djokovic by winning a 61-minute first set but was hit by falls in the third game of the third set and the last game of the match, which did not help his cause and it allowed Djokovic to clinch victory 6-7 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 on his third match point.

The new No. 2 Court witnessed a thriller as ninth seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battled through his first round match against Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev, a man ranked 62 places below him, in four sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).



Robin Soderling was a star. The Swede was the first man to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros and, from that fourth-round victory, he went all the way to the final. And then he lost. Now he has another shot at the fame game in SW19 after beating Gilles Muller in the first round 6-7 (7-4), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2. The 13th seed almost missed his chance, mind you, dropping the first set, but after he got his nose in front in the second, it was plain sailing.

Now he has another shot at the fame game in SW19 after beating Gilles Muller in the first round 6-7 (7-4), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2. The 13th seed almost missed his chance, mind you, dropping the first set, but after he got his nose in front in the second, it was plain sailing.

An even longer match occurred on court 18 as Feliciano Lopez became the second seed to go out of the men’s tournament, following James Blake’s earlier exit to Andreas Seppi. The Spanish No.21 seed was beaten in a marathon five- setter 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 by Karol Beck of Slovakia in three hours, 45 minutes.


Spectators on Court 12, meanwhile, were treated to a very un-Wimbledon-like experience: the sight of a chair umpire doubling up as a bouncer when hostilities broke out between Juan Monaco and Nicholas Almagro in their epic match which ended 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 8-6 in the latter's favour.

French Open: Day 5 Update

Roger Federer, the Williams sisters, Jankovic, Tsonga, Kuznetsova, Monfils, Roddick and Dementieva are some of the big names who made it through to the third round today.

Roger Federer found himself in a much tighter and tougher match than he would have expected or is used to in the French Open's second round Thursday before producing a 7-6 (8), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Jose Acasuso of Argentina.

Federer, whose season hasn't been up to his high standards, was up to the task each time, though. "Mentally, I've always been very strong, but I'm not being put in a position like this very often, you know," Federer said. Then, moments later, as if to make sure everyone understood him, Federer added: "Coming through such a match is always a great feeling. Like I said, I'm not part of such close matches that often."

Federer, in contrast, offered this assessment of his performance: "I was not managing and controlling the match the way I should have."

Yet there he was, taking a 6-3 lead in the first-set tiebreaker. Federer erased the first two set points with aces before Acasuso pulled a forehand wide. Then, ahead 7-6, Acasuso shanked a shot to waste No. 4, and Federer eventually claimed that set.

Charismatic Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave the partisan crowd something to chant, as the electric Frenchmen with the can't-miss-smile stormed back in a fourth set tiebreaker and advanced to the third round over Argentine Juan Monaco, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).


Excitement was at a fever pitch in the deciding moments of the fourth set as Tsonga, trailing 5-1 in the tiebreak, bravely stormed back to even the score at 5-5. "Tsonga! Tsonga!" chants reverberated throughout the rafters at Court Suzanne Lenglen, and as hard as Monaco tried to stem the tide, he finally wilted on Tsonga's third match point.


Tsonga, who had never won at Roland Garros until the first round this year, will face Belgian Christophe Rochus next in the third round.

Gael Monfils, a semifinalist in last year's French Open, invigorated the French crowds even more, as he was an easy straight set winner over Victor Crivoi, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

The second round match between fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic and Sergiy Stakhovsky was suspended on Thursday due to bad light after 90 minutes of play.Novak is two sets in front, 6-3 6-4.


Venus Williams fought back from a set down and then saved a match point against unheralded Lucie Safarova in her French Open second round match today. The No3 seed, who eventually prevailed 6-7, 6-2, 7-5, will now face 29th seed Agnes Szavay.

Jelena Dokic left the court in floods of tears on Thursday after retiring with a back injury while leading by a set in her French Open second round match against Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva."It's a shock and a disappointment," the Australian former world number four told a news conference after quitting with the score at 6-2 3-4 against.

"I felt like I had the match in my hands and I was doing well and even if I didn't win, I was playing really well. I felt like I probably played the best tennis that I played this year."

It was a much simpler affair for fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who reached the third round with a 6-1 6-2 win over Magdalena Rybarikova, and Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who took less than 50 minutes in a 6-0 6-2 win over Galina Voskoboeva.