Three years after the France vs Switzerland final, the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille hosts a final between two neighbours: France and Belgium. It was my third Davis Cup final in 3 years, and once again a rollercoaster of emotions. Read my recap here:
Title number 97 for Roger Federer who dispatched Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-2 in the final. Federer continues his unbeaten start to the 2018 season and regains the number one ranking for the first time in more than five years.
Following his win at the ATP finals last November, Dimitrov reached the semifinals in Brisbane (beaten by Kyrgios), and the quarterfinals at the Australian Open where he fell to Kyle Edmund. He hasn’t dropped a set all week en route to the final but couldn’t do much to prevent Federer from winning his third Rotterdam title.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the defending champion, but withdrew before the tournament began with a left hamstring injury.
In the doubles draw, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert went on to claim the title with a 2-6 6-2 10-7 win over recent Australian Open champions Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. This is Mahut’s third title in Rotterdam, after his victories with Llodra in 2014, and Pospisil in 2016.
Photo credit: ABN AMRO
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.
Tougher than expected for Andy Murray who needs 3 sets to defeat Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Murray had his best clay season last year, with wins in Munich and Madrid, as well as a semifinal in Roland Garros. How well do you think he will play on clay this year?
Kei Nishikori defeats Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 2-6 6-3 6-4
Kei Nishikori survived a right wrist injury scare to defeat 26th-seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in four sets.
