French Open - Day six

Day six of the French Open and Maria Sharapova double bagled Paula Ormaechea and as you can imagine it was totally a one-sided match. 

Maria was able to show superiority and totally embarrassed Paula who had to be done very well to reach the third round. 

Carla Suarez Narravo beat Taylor Towsend in straight sets and to be fair it was probably the right result. 

Carla is fantastic on the clay court and very difficult to beat whilst this is Taylor first senior grand slam so to make to the third round was a remarkable achievement. 

The shock of the day was Ajla Tomljanovic beating Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets. Ajla has had a great French Open whilst Aga has been grinding out results. 

So although on paper it is shock result the way that Ajla has been playing in this tournament makes it less surprising. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Dmitry Tursunov in four sets. This was a tough match for Roger but he was able to use his experience to win the match. 

Novak Djokovic beat Marian Cilic in four sets and this was the first tough match that Novak had to dig deep and win the match.  

French Open - day five

Day five of the French Open and Simona Halep beat Heather Watson in straight sets. The second set was very competitive but Heather made way too many unforced errors to win this match. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets and it was routine win for Ana and if she keeps it up she may win this grandslam.

Sloane Stephens beat Polona Hercog in straight sets and it was a very convincing win by Sloane. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Theim in straight sets and this was a good comfortable win for Rafa.  

Andy Murray beat Marinko Matosevic in straight sets and it was a comfortable match for Andy. 

This hopefully the type of match that should prepare Andy for the tougher matches that will come his way.

French Open - day four

Day four of the French Open had some big surprises, in the women's draw Anna Schmiedlova beat Venus Williams in three sets. 

Venus did well in the first set but then went off the rails and the unforced errors increased and this got worse in the third set. 

Ana played a careful and patient game and and her confidence grew with each game and she started really going for her shots. 

It was sad to see Venus's game fall apart and it does make me wonder how long Venus can carry on playing knowing she doesn't really have the energy for three sets. 

To add to the drama Garbine Muguruza beat Serena Williams in straight sets. Garbine played well and did not really allow Serena to get into the match. 

Serena by her own standards had a poor match, her serve was off and she was barely moving her feet. She may have been carrying an injury that is only explanation for her shocking performance. 

Maria Sharapova beat Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets and she played reasonably well after a poor start and had complete control of the second set and the match. 

Taylor Townsend beat Alize Cornet in three sets and Taylor was given a wild card to enter this tournament and has made incredible progress and it will be interesting to see how far she will go in this tournament. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic beat Jeremy Chardy in straight sets and Novak looked calm and confident and had complete control over the game and match. 

Roger Federer beat Diego Schwartzman in straight sets and Roger played well and did enough to win this match comfortable. 

French Open - day three

Day three of the French Open was eventful and in the women's draw Sloane Stephens beat Shuai Peng in straight sets. 

Sloane has had some real tough losses recently but I am convinced that she is only really motivated for Grand Slam tournaments and hence why she is able to pick up her level and get routine wins. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Caroline Garcia in straight sets and this was a very good win for Ana as Caroline has been playing well on the clay.

The shock result of the day was Ni La losing to Kristina Mladenovic in three sets.   

I thought that Ni La was going to do quite well and I thought she would at least make it to the semi-finals.    

 

So this was a huge surprise and has certainly opened up the bottom half the draw.

In the men's draw Andy Murray beat Andrey Golubev in four sets. Andy was doing well then lost his concentration but regained it quickly enough to win the fourth set and the match.  

Another surprise result was Ivo Karlovic beating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. It was a close match but Ivo seemed to have the edge when it came to big the points. 

French Open - Day two

Day two at the French Open and in the women's draw Maria Sharapova beat Ksenia Pervak in straight sets and this was a routine win for Maria, who is hoping to win her fifth grand slam. 

Petra Kivitova beat Zarina Diyas in straight sets and it was also a fairly routine win for Petra who is aiming for her second grand slam. 

Eugenie Bouchard beat Shahar Peer in straight sets and Eugenie has been playing great tennis and she should at least make it to the semi-finals. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Robby Ginepri in straight sets and it was a very good win for Rafa who also bagled Robby twice in the three sets.

Novak Djokovic beat Joao Sousa in straight sets and it was a fairly routine win for Novak who is hoping to at least make it to the final. 

The shock result of the day was Guillermo Garcia- Lopez beat Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets and bagled Stanislas in the fourth set. 

Stanislas is the current Australian Open champion and many pundits thought he was going to do well here so losing to Guillermo in the first round was definitely the shock of the day. 

French Open - Day One

Day one at the French Open and in the men's draw Roger Federer beat Lukas Lacko in straights sets and it was a routine win for Roger and who is hoping that he will win his 18th Grand slam. 

Elsewhere Jo Wilfred Tsonga beat Eduardo Vasselin in straight sets win and Jo Wilfred needs to make to at least the semi -finals or he will drop out of the top twenty. 

In the women's draw Serena Williams beat Alize Lim in straight sets and Serena is aiming for 18th grand slam and has a lot of points to defend. 

Venus Williams beat Belinda Bencic in straight sets and this was a good win for Venus. Venus had a poor French Open last year and is hoping for a better run this year.

Elsewhere Agnieszka Radwanksa beat Shuai Zhang straight sets win and she is hoping to make it to least the semi-finals and try and win her first grand slam. 

Preview of the French Open 2014

The French Open starts this week and it promises to bring us lots of entertainment. 

In the men's draw the defending Champion Rafal Nadal has his work cut out to retain the his title. 

Rafa is not playing at the level you would expect him to be playing. However I think he will retain his title. 

He will have stiff competition from Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray who have been playing well and I am sure they will both push Rafa to limit if he is to retain his title. 

In the women's draw the defending champion Serena Williams will also have stiff competition to retain her title.

Both Li Na and Maria Sharapova will provide Serena with some stiff competition.

 However I think barring injury Serena will retain her title as others don't have the speed or Serena's serve. 

From a British point of view Heather Watson is our sole  female representative and her realistic goal is to try and pick up as many ranking points as possible. 

Hopefully Heather will at least make it to third round then she will pick up some very much needed ranking points to help her get back into the top fifty. 

Overall I am expect both Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams to retain their titles but it will not be easy for either of them.