Day 3 at RG16: Stosur, Lopez and Zverev
I usually like preparing my day at Roland Garros, and write down the matches I want to watch but more often than not I end up watching different matches than those planned. I had in mind to attend either Coric-Fritz on court 8 or Bouchard-Siegemund on court 16. But given the long long long queues to enter the stadium and the queue to access court 16, I made my way to court 17 as I wanted to watch the end of the match between 2010 French Open finalist Sam Stosur and Misaki Doi. But first on court 17, 74-ranked Qiang Wang faces 17-year-old French wild card Tessah Andrianjafitrimo.
Qiang Wang defeats Tessah Andrianjafitrimo 6-0 6-0
I have nothing against that player I had never heard of before, but I really don’t get why Roland Garros officials awarded a wild card to Tessah Andrianjafitrimo who is ranked 311th and has never won a WTA match. 6-0 6-0 for Wang in an hour… no comment.
In the mean time, everything’s going well for Bouchard on court 16:
I’m surrounded by German fans who are watching the match between Florian Mayer and Malek Jaziri on court 15 (yes, you can watch two matches at once).
Sam Stosur defeats Misaki Doi 6-2 4-6 6-3
The match interrupted by darkness on Monday resumes at 6-2 1-3 for Stosur. Difficult start for Sam who loses her serve and the second set. She clearly has problems with her serve, as she is broken again in the first game of the third set. But she somehow managed to rally back and win.
A smiling Sam after her hard-earned victory:
On my way to court 8. A crowded and cloudy day at Roland Garros:
Feliciano Lopez defeats Thomas Fabbiano 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-2
The court is packed, but I manage to get a seat in the front row, I can’t see all the court, but I can watch Rafa and Andy matches on the big screen:
Davis Cup captain Conchita Martinez was in the stands watching Feli’s match. It must have been a busy afternoon for her as Rafa, Almagro and Carreno Busta were also playing. Clay is definitely not Lopez‘ best surface, but he does the job and wins in 4 sets.
Nicolas Almagro Lopez defeats Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4
Next, on court 14, two talented clay-court players: Almagro, winner in Estoril and Kohlschreiber, winner in Munich. Almagro is the first to break his opponent’s serve but the German breaks back and wins the first serve 7-5. The Spaniard kind of lost his nerves at the beginning of the second set. I was really surprised (and not in a good way) by his behaviour on court and aggressivity towards the umpire. I have no idea what he shout (the onnly spanish word I understand is Vamos) but I guess there were not friendly words. I did not expect that from him.
Players in a cage?
I left the match at the beginning of the second set and was surprised to read later than Almagro had rallied back to win in four sets.
Mariana Duque-Marino defeats Daria Gavrilova 5-7 6-4 6-4
It was getting cold and the only thing I wanted was that match do end quickly so I could watch Zverev’s match. But both players have decided otherwise: Gavrilova leads by one set and a break but manages to lose in 3.
Alexander Zverev vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert
19-year-old Alexander Zverev is seen by many as a future Grand Slam contender. I watched him play in the qualies here last year (he lost to Igor Sijsling):
The young German has improved so much since last year, as he played in his first ATP final last week (lost to Dominic Thiem in Nice last week) and is now ranked 41th.
From the first points on, it’s obvious that Zverev is superior to doubles specialist Herbert, and he quickly gets 3 balls to lead 5-2. But the Fenchman mix up his game, with drop shots and volleys and wins the first set 7-5. Zverev levelled at one set all and I left the stadium. The match was interrupted by darkness at two sets to one for the German.
I hope you enjoyed my recap, I’ll be back on Roland Garros on Thursday. Stay tuned for more Roland Garros 2016 coverage and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to share your pictures or stories, leave a comment below.