The second day of the Roland-Garros tournament was dominated, Monday, by the defeat of Rafael Nadal, but also the qualifications of Jannick Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. On the French side, we had to wait to celebrate the first victories of the day.
Both Iga Swiatek, world No.1 and three-time winner of the Paris tournament, and Jannik Sinner, world No.2 and winner of the Australian Open in January, had a quiet entry into the competition, Monday May 27, in this second day of Roland-Garros.
World No.3 Coco Gauff ousted Julia Avdeeva in 52 minutes, while Stefanos Tsitsipas, world No.9, dominated Marton Fucsovics. After midnight, world No.5 Daniil Medvedev dismissed Dominik Koepfer.
The public at the Parisian tournament also saw a succession of defeats on the French side. But Gael Monfils, Varvara Gracheva and Diane Parry saved the honor at the end of the day.
No miracle for Nadal
The surprise came from the Spaniard with 14 triumphs on Parisian clay. For the first time in 19 appearances at the Parisian Grand Slam, “Rafa” was chased out from the start (6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3) in just over three hours by Zverev , one of the candidates for the trophy this year on the momentum of his title in Rome.
Read alsoRoland Garros: beaten by Zverev, Nadal offers himself a final lap that is far too short
Sinner s’impose sans surprise
The Italian Sinner got his tournament off to a perfect start by winning (6-3, 6-3, 6-4) in just over two hours, at the expense of the American Eubanks (46th).
An expected victory, but which serves as a successful test for the world No.2, who returns to competition in Paris after his withdrawal at the beginning of May in the quarter-final of the Masters 1000 in Madrid against the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime.
“I am happy to be back on court after my injury, this is a special tournament for me because it is the first time I have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam” (editor’s note, in 2020 beaten by Nadal), commented the 22-year-old Italian, before adding: “my hip is fine. I’m not yet in top form, but I’m working on it every day.”
Sinner did not seem to feel any physical discomfort. He went the distance during the rare rallies he had to do and knew how to set the pace in the match, often outflanking his opponent who had no solution to annoy him, during the first two sets. The third set was slightly closer, Eubanks obtaining, in vain, two break points at 5-4.
Medvedev advances to second round
World No.5 Daniil Medvedev came out of his first round match at Roland Garros just before half past midnight, at the expense of German Dominik Koepfer (65th), in four sets (6-3, 6-4 , 5-7, 6-3).
Medvedev had a break lead in the third set before being dragged into a fourth set. In this fourth set, he let slip a first break in advance before widening the gap again.
“If I finish in a Grand Slam before midnight, there’s a problem,” smiled the 28-year-old Russian, referring to his already often late matches at the Australian Open at the start of the year. “I always finish after midnight but that’s fine with me, the most important thing is to win.”
In the second round, he will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (57th).
World No.1 Iga Swiatek had no trouble knocking out Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean, from qualifying, (6-1, 6-2), to qualify for the second round where she will face Japanese Naomi Osaka. Big favorite for her own succession in the Paris tournament, the 22-year-old Pole left almost nothing to her opponent of the day, 148th in the world.
Read alsoRoland-Garros: expeditious, Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek advance to the 2nd round
For her part, Ons Jabeur, 9th in the world, held her place against the American Sachia Vickery, 124th and beneficiary of a wild card, whom she dismissed (6-3, 6-2).
“A first round of a Grand Slam is always difficult. I tried to relax on the court, but I hope it will be better in the next match. There is still a long way to go,” declared the Tunisian, who will face in the second round the Colombian Camila Osorio (77th) or the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (48th).
Coco Gauff, 3rd player in the world, qualified, quickly dismissing (6-1, 6-1) the Russian Julia Avdeeva (208th), from the qualifications.
The 20-year-old American, finalist of the event in 2022, only took 25 minutes to win the first set. A lone rider which continued in the second round since it only took two minutes more to close the match.
Gauff, winner of the US Open last year, will face another player from qualifying, Tamara Zidansek (131st), in the next round. Attention: the Slovenian, to everyone’s surprise, had made it to the semi-final in 2021.
Tsitsipas qualified without difficulty
Stefanos Tsitsipas, 9th in the world, also qualified calmly for the second round, defeating (7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 6-1) the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (54th).
The 25-year-old Greek, finalist of the event in 2021, did not have the easiest entry into the competition against an opponent rather comfortable on clay, winner of the second tournament of his career on this mid-surface surface. April in Bucharest. But he showed himself to be solid enough to enforce the logic of the ranking, like the first set won with forceps, relying on a good serve (68% first ball success over the entire match).
Tsitsipas was nevertheless broken first in the second set, to lead 4-3, before immediately recovering to line up three games and break away with the score. Prelude to a third one-sided round, the three-time winner of the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 then calmly playing his tennis.
In the next round he will face the German Daniel Altmaier (83rd), winner of the Serbian Laslo Djere, after a marathon of more than five hours on Sunday.
On the French side, Gael Monfils, 37th in the world, qualified for the second round by dominating the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (58th) (6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4), in a Philippe-court Chatrier conquered.
It took him a little more than 2 hours 30 minutes to dismiss his evening opponent, who last year had notably reached the 3rd round at Porte d’Auteuil, after having dismissed the Russian Daniil Medvedev from the start.
Monfils initially took the lead easily in the first set, taking advantage of a break from the start. If the Brazilian then held the second set, Monfils came back, winning the third set with an ace, then the last with another. Before performing a little dance step as a celebration guide.
“I said I wanted to perform in Paris. Here every time it’s magical, I saw it again today” he said before leaving the court. “I had a very good start to the match and afterward it was harder but you pushed me and I managed to get back into it.”
In the second round, Monfils will face Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 30th in the world. The two men have only crossed paths once, in 2021 on a fast surface in Vienna. The Frenchman won in two sets.
Rainy day for the French
The other French people had a gloomy start to the second day at Roland-Garros, notably with the elimination of Arthur Fils, seeded N.29, against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (6-3, 4-6, 6 -4, 6-2).
Earlier in the day, Hugo Gaston also had to wait for the rain to end to resume play against the American Ben Shelton (15th), before being eliminated (3-6, 6-3, 6-4 , 6-4).
Leolia Jeanjean and Jessika Ponchet were not able to do much, respectively against Iga Swiatek (6-1, 6-2) and the Canadian Leylah Fernandez, seeded N.31 and 34th in the world (6-2, 6-0). Finally, the French No.2, Clara Burel (44th), was eliminated in two sets (7-6 (7/3), 7-5) by the Russian Anna Kalinskaya.
In addition to the performance of Gael Monfils, the light came from Varvara Gracheva, who, at the start of the evening, surprised Maria Sakkari (3-6, 6-4, 6-3). Diane Parry also qualified for the second round by winning the Franco-French poster of the evening against Fiona Ferro (3-6, 6-3, 6-3).
With AFP
