Safin down 2 sets to 0 against Tipsarevic. I must say I was impressed with Tipsarevic when I saw him play on Sunday (yes I was one of the brave souls who braved the rain at Roland Garros on Sunday!). The Serbian is a tidy player who looks accompished on clay - I'm not surprised he's giving Safin problems, although I think he'll come unstuck against a more consistent big-hitter in a later round.

Elsewhere...

Djokovic 2 sets up, going with serve in 3rd set...
Berdych 2 sets down, going with serve in 3rd set...
Robredo serving for first set against Greek qualifier Economidis (I love that name!)
Ginepri and Hartfield 1 set all, on serve in 3rd.

Safin ain't doing too great here... what's happened to the guy

Tipsarevic, from what i remember having seen him play a couple of times, is quite an effective and dangerous player. Seems quite focused and determined. I didnt; expect a picnic for Safin against him, but I did expect the match to be 4 or 5 sets. Haven;t seen the whole match but Safin doesn't look to be playign awfully.

Tipsarevic beats Safin 6-4 6-4 7-5. It was a great performance form him and thorughly deserved :clap: He's growing on me. Sad to see Safin go out so early though. :( Poor Dinky Jo is gonna be upset :(

Bad result for Safin though. :( Just hope it means he's going to the grass a fair go this year. Plenty of practice time now.

Plenty of practice time for others like Timmy and Andy Roddick.. Hopefully we will see more names shining in the grass season..

Really a bad result indeed ..Marat does not like grass..So the only remaining hope for him it is really the second part of the season and in particular in the US..Let's hope for a good run at least at the USO ;)

It's a shame his on the court talents are not matching his rumoured off the court activities....

OMG that is a bit of a shocker. I for one am not brave enough to tell Jo. :( :(

'Off court rumours' :unsure: don't think I best ask what that is all about :rolleyes:

:huh:

Safin out.
All the Americans out. (Even earlier than usual.)
Berdych joins the list of 1st round seeds exiting.
Gasquet getting crushed in the 2nd round.

As usual at the French it's left upto Venus and Serena to carry the flag :lol:

The Vliegen - Gasquet match is done now.

Vliegen wins 7-6 6-3 6-1

Don't count out Laura Granville just yet. :D

Gasquet - What a joke!!!!

I don't know the reason but from what I understood yestrday he had blisters and was not even sure he coudl play the first round.

But how can a pro tennis man have blisters??? Why has he got so many excuses.

Yeah, me too. Be good to see Safin Tim and Roddick do well at Wimbledon.
Especially Tim :D

straight sets!!! :shrug: Not very impressive really!!!! :angry: One day he'll manage to string 2 wins together...... :blink:

Just a bit of doubles news/brit watch:

Butorac/Murray are out in the first round of the doubles in straight sets to Kibulec/Kerr :yikes:

Is that the last Brit out of the French Open now? :unsure:

Hi Tenez (just kiting but..so true.. ;) )

Here the French excuses- fro the official presentation of them please refer to this evening program a day at RG -8.00h Paris time- Third FRENCH channel- roflmao :

a. Too much pressure on Richard
a.1. No you do not understand anything: To few pressure but...
b. Too much light..
b.1. No you do not understand anything to few light..the poor..
c. The clay was too humid...c.1 just the contrary..

Please note: a+a.1+b+b.1+c+c.1 Will be presented by 6 different guys TALKING exactly at the same time and ASKING simultaneously to Richard to comment the match AND EVERYTHING need to be done in 2 min..I.e. it will be the usual mess... :yikes: :yikes:

So French..It is for this reason we like them so much roflmao roflmao

disappointing results from gasquet and safin...c'mon guys :angry: :angry: :angry:

More seeds gone today:

Berdych (10)
Gasquet (11)
Safin (22) :shrug:
Melzer (27)

Looking at the rain, it doesn't appear that much more play will take place today :(

Wow, very disappointing losses for Safin and Gasquet :(

I'm pleased to see both Nole and JCF move through in straight sets though :D

Gasquet, you moron. :angry:

It was a classy win for Tipsarevic - I thought it would be a good match-up in the draw discussion thread, and it turned out that way. I rather don't think we'll see a Top 10 double like Jankovic and Ivanovic on the ladies' side, but I think the young Serb has the game to join his countryman Djokovic in the Top 40. This result already sends him into the mid-60s I believe. I wouldn't be too hard on Safin--he didn't defeat himself this time, though his play was streaky and he seemed to surrender his serve just when he needed to hold to stay in the set à la Blake yesterday. But he lacked the patience to keep up with the crafty Tipsarevic, who often used a drop shot slice kept low to frustrate his taller opponent.

I also wouldn't be too hard on Gasquet, although he unquestionably defeated himself in the end. Vliegen played an excellent match, and though he's struggled this year he was once on the verge of breaking into the Top 30 and seemed to have rediscovered some of this form. But it was still a familiar replay of the Frenchman's recent losses--Gasquet had three set points in the first set on the Belgian's serve and couldn't convert. Once it went into a tiebreaker I figured Gasquet would give it away (he's only won a third of them this year, something like 5 out of 15), and sure enough despite racing out to a 4-2 lead didn't win another point. He never recovered. A shame really but not altogether surprising. With the No 1 Frenchman and Gonzalez gone from his section, Cañas (who has notched two convincing wins so far) is suddenly looking a good bet for the QFs, though compatriot Monaco and the unpredictable Stepanek may be dangerous yet.

I have one eye on Canas. He is in devastating form and could go all the way to final and lose to Nadal.

Good point. I had a feeling Canas would bring his A game out for the Slams. His draw's opening up nicely, with the elimination of Gasquet and Gonzalez and I can only see Davydenko between him and the final.

However, I probably shouldn't rule out Monaco either - they're due to meet in the 4th round now. Monaco won that warmup tournament before he came here, and impressively dismissed Melzer in straight sets earlier.

Evening Wise.

What do you predict for the Federer match that just started? I'm going for the frenchman in 4 sets. he just saved a BP brilliantly.

oooh...they're playing tennis again!

Chela and Monfils have 1 set each, and Monfils has just broken Chela in the third.

Federer out on Lenglen Court, against Ascione

Almagro is 2-1 up on Llodra, on serve in the 4th

I'm not having a look at the draw at the moment, but I seem to remember us saying that Gasquet and Safin, if they *did* find their form, could be among the few players who might have a chance of testing Roger on his way to the final.

Well, there was never much chance for that to happen ...

Of course, now we may see him 'crash out' to Ascione ... doesn't look like it's going to happen, though. :D

Nalbandian two sets up on Navarro Pastor, not having it all his own way though.

Chela and Monfils one set all - tough one to call, this. The Frenchman's just got a break though.


Almagro struggling against Llodra, up 2 sets to 1, but has just blown a 3-0 lead and it's back on serve in the fourth.

Stepanek and Vasselin one set all, Volandri a set up on Arguellos and Ascione has just kicked off against an unknown Swiss player.

Roger breaks 2:0 :D

Evening chet. I don't know much about Ascione, but Federer doesn't always produce his best stuff in the first rounds - remember Hartfield last year? With the French crowd roaring him on, it's certainly not out of the question that Ascione could emerge victorious here.

3-0 to the "unknown Swiss"

4-0 to Roger. :D

:yahoo: 4-0

5-0 :D

5-0!

Mind you, after watching both Venus and Henin losing leads like that, i don't think i'll count any chickens!!!!!!! :unsure:

It looks like it's raining again :(

:blink: Almagro was 3-0 up in his fourth set against Llodra, but contrived to lose it 6-4. With that kind of momentum, the Frenchman must be favourite for the decider.

Stepanek a double-break up in the third against Vasselin.

Monfils takes the third against Chela. The French have performed well here this week, with one notable exception :angry:

Ascione mounting a comeback against Federer. 5-1.

5-1. Roger serving for the set.

pretty appalling that last game from Federer tho - that last shot was particularly bad!

Never mind, good service game from Fed to win the set 6-1 :D

First set Roger 6-1. :yahoo:

Poor little Frenchman though. :hug: