Daily Sports News

Wimbledon on US Independence day will be the stage for the most enduring sibling rivalry in sports. Venus Williams butchered World No.1 Dinara Safina 6-0 6-1 in just 51 minutes in her semi-final match while Serena Williams had to sweat it out for 2 hrs and 49 minutes defeating Elena Dementieva. There was a sharp contrast in the fortunes of the two sisters, but in the end they both said to the fourth final together. This also got Venus to a 35th consecutive set win at Wimbledon. Venus is looking forward to a hat-trick at the greatest even on the tennis calendar and also looking for her sixth overall. Head to head the both sisters are locked at 10-10 and this looks out to be another great match on Saturday.

Serena survived a match point at 4-5, 30-40 down in the deciding set and came back strongly to win the match. The match was the longest semi-final clash in the women’s draw at Wimbledon. Serena in a post match interview said that it was one of her most dramatic career wins. Serena was equally matched by Elena as she neutralized the power game which been the weapon for Serena. Venus hit 20 aces during the match which also showed her game plan as she also capitalized by winning 80% on the point on her first serve.

Roger showed his perfection and brilliance at the centre court when he defeated the 1st round unseeded challenger Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei with a score of 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 here on centre court. Lu defiantly earned the respect by giving an impressive performance against the magician in the first set. He showed his ability to fight rite in the first set when he broke Federer’s serve in the fourth game taking the lead in the set 3-2. But it was Roger’s day in the end, he took the victory in straight sets and moved to the second round. If Roger wins the Wimbledon he will beat Pete Sampras record of 14 grand slams and thus would elevate himself to the greatest tennis player in the history of the game. For now the road towards his victory remains clear as Nadal pulled out due to an injury. Mented Another topic of the discussion was the dressing style of Federer and was noticed and complimented by all the spectators.

In a hard fought match the 4th seeded Serbian Djokovic beat Benneteau of France. The first two sets tested the Serbian to his limit, but he sailed through to the second round taking the match 6-7 7-6 6-2 6-4. The surprise of French Open Soderling also won his match against Muller of Luxemburg. The day one although was over shadowed due to weather and some of the match had to be stopped to be continued on 23rd June. Spanish Verdasco had a easy start to with a easy win over the wild card entry, J Ward of Germany wining the match 6-1 6-3 6-4.

Key Results for the Men’s Draw – Day 1

[2] R Federer (SUI) beat Y Lu (TPE) 7-5 6-3 6-2
[4] N Djokovic (SRB) beat J Benneteau (FRA) 6-7 7-6 6-2 6-4
[7] F Verdasco (ESP) beat [WC] J Ward (GBR) 6-1 6-3 6-4
[9] J Tsonga (FRA) beat A Golubev (KAZ) 6-3 5-7 -7-6 7-6
[11] M Cilic (CRO) beat A Martin (ESP) 6-3 6-4 64
[13] R Soderling (SWE) beat G Muller (LUX) 6-7 7-5 6-1 6-2
[15] T Robredo (ESP) beat L Gregorc (SLO) 7-6 6-4 5-7 7-6
A Seppi (ITA) beat [17] J Blake (USA) 7-5 6-4 7-6
[18] R Schuettler (GER) beat X Malisse (BEL) 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-1
K Beck (SVK) beat [21] F Lopez (ESP) 1-6 7-5 6-3 4-6 10-8
[22] I Karlovic (CRO) beat L Lacko (SVK) 6-3 7-6 6-3
[27] P Kohlschreiber (GER) beat F Serra (FRA) 7-6 6-1 6-4
[28] M Fish (USA) beat S Roitman (ARG) 6-3 6-2 4-1 ret. (shoulder injury)
[29] I Andreev (RUS) beat E Korolev (RUS) 4-6 7-6 6-4 7-6
[32] A Montanes (ESP) beat G Zemlja (SLO) 6-4 6-4 6-4

On a day kissed by rain, Federer accomplished the unthinkable, he won the FRENCH OPEN. The mixed tears of joy and relief ran down Federer’s face as he won the coveted French open title, the only trophy missing in his gallery of impressive titles. The Swiss beat Soderling ,7-6 and 6-4 in less than two hours, on a day which could have been spoiled by rain. But all the elements were in Federer’s favor as Soderling hit the net on reply to Federer’s serve.

The match will be a true spectacle to many a Federer fan as he displayed his once exquisite form, hitting aces, dropshots, etc to thrash Soderling. The first set was won easily by Federer in less than 25 minutes as he took four break points and won the set 6-1. The only moment during the match when Fedex was unnerved was during the second set when a spectator ran onto the court with a Barcelona flag and tried to place a hat on Federer’s head. Truely a huge disappointment to the French authorities.

Federer lost three points in a row after this incident as Soderling leveled it 2-2. But Federer quickly recovered his composure to take the set 7-6 in the tie breaker by 6-1. This set lasted for 49 minutes as Federer produced four aces by service. In the third set, Federer won the break in the first game of the set, leading 1-0, then after that each player won their respective service games, and on the score of 5-4, Federer served for the match and won the third set and the match.

By winning the French open, Federer became only the sixth man in tennis history to win all the four slam titles, with Andre Agassi being the last man to do it in 1999, presenting him with the trophy. What an irony it was, to watch Agassi present Federer the trophy, to equal Agassi rival, Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles.

“This was my greatest victory” said Federer although it was Soderling’s win over Nadal, the four time French Open champion, who was attempting to become the first man to win five in succession. Soderling, playing his first grand slam final, and watched by fellow Swede Bjorn Borg who has won this title six times said “You gave me a lesson how to play” and later said “To me you are the greatest player in history”.

Federer has finally achieved the French Open title can now and go on with the rest of his career without worrying about never winning the French Open……

Roger Federer defeated the 11th-seeded Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter finals of the French Open. With the win he advanced to the semifinals and making it his 20th consecutive Grand slam semifinal appearance. Federer in a post match interview said that he felt the pressure before the match and was very nervous as he expected a tough and difficult match.

Federer faced some resistance from the Frenchman I the opening game and then in the tie-break of the first set. Federer has in his career won 13 grand slam titles and the only title evading him till now is the French Open and now after Nadal’s exit he looks to be the most favorite contender.

Brithis No.1 and World No.3 ANDY Murray’s impressive run was halted by the 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez in the quarter-finals at the Roland Garros. Chilean Fernando Gonzalez powered his way to the semi-finals with a a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory at the Philippe Chatrier court. Murray had show excellent form the matches leading to the quarters but could not capitalize and gave way to the mercurial Gonzalez.

It was a disappointing start for Murray when he lost the first set 6-3, Gonzalez broke Murray’s serve in the 8th game of the set and then maintained his serve to take the set. Murray fought hard and took the next set 6-3. Gonzalez continued the rampage and took the next set 6-0, with some amazing ground strokes including the inside out cross court forehand that was simply too massive for Murray to reach. The Chilean took the next set 6-4 to take the match and setup his semifinal tie with 23rd seed Robin Soderling of Sweden. Robin Soderling come to the semi’s after defeating the hot favorite Nadal.

An interview with: ANDYMURRAY

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed to go pretty well at the start, and then it all went to hell after the start of the third set, particularly that third set.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he played a perfect third set. But, you know, I had a long game on my serve. Maybe if I had won that maybe it would have been a bit different.

I had the momentum there, and I didn’t go with it. I mean, I’ve got to give a lot of credit to him. I played against him before and he hits the ball hard, but today he was hitting it huge.

And, you know, it’s quite easy sort of sitting to the side to sort of look and think, you know, oh, you could have done this; you could have done that. The guy is hitting ball so hard. I mean, no one’s hit the ball that big.

You know, if that happens, sometimes you’ve got to say, too good. But, you know, there’s a couple of things, like I said, start of the third set I was disappointed with. I had a few chances there to hold serve and didn’t take them, and then at the end of the match I played a poor, poor game and when I broke back, which is not like me.

Because I got myself back into the match there and played four bad points. It was a good week, couple of weeks.

Q. What was it in particular that surprised you about him?

ANDY MURRAY: Nothing surprised me. I mean, you know how the guy plays. I’ve watched a lot of his matches. He’s been around a long time. Well, you can ask him when he comes up. I thought he hit his forehand great. He made very few errors off it.

Maybe I hit a few too many balls to his forehand. But, you know, his one two punch off his serve and the forehand today was pretty impressive.

Q. You knew you were going to have to deal with that forehand. Did you have any specific tactic to try and evade it or play it or play the backhand all the time? What was your mindset going in?

ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, it’s stuff that you can try and do. I mean, you can hit the ball short to his forehand side, because normally he’s waiting on the backhand side to runaround and hit it.

I mean, if you look at some of the shots he’s hit, he’s hitting forehands from like a meter wide of the tram line on some points and hitting winners off them.

Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, then he makes his sort of mind up that actually I want to hit a forehand on this shot, and he runs around and spanks a winner. You can’t do a whole lot with it.

You know, there’s obviously things that you try to do to help. But against all the good players, they can sometimes come up with great shots.

Q. Do you think you were beaten by a better clay court player today, or just a better player on the day?

ANDY MURRAY: Um, I mean, his results on clay have been a lot better than mine. He has more experience and won tournaments on it. Yeah, I guess he’s a better clay court player.

But I still think I had my chances and didn’t take them, and he came up with some big shots when he needed to. That’s why he won, and he deserved to.

Q. Can you just give us your verdict on the tournament as a whole? Clay court season?

ANDY MURRAY: It’s been very good for me, a lot better than previous years. I stayed injury free. Physically I felt good on the court. I thought I moved better. You know, I had good results.

I mean, it’s not like, you know, the Nadal results or whatever. But, you know, next year I can improve a round or so each tournament or, you know, not have one early loss and consistently getting to the end of the tournaments. That would be good.

I’m happy with the way the clay court season went. It could have been a lot worse, that’s for sure.

Q. Your defense against him was really good the first two sets, and you got to a lot of his forehands. Does it wear you down when he keeps coming up, and is that the biggest forehand in tennis? Is it just relentless?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, his forehand is the biggest. I mean    yeah, I think it is. I mean he, yeah, can hit winners from anywhere on the court. That’s why it’s dangerous. Some guys can hit huge fore hands when they’re in the middle the court. Some guys hit huge forehand returns.

But he can hit huge forehand returns. He hits it great on the run. He can hit his forehand from anywhere on the court. That’s why it’s very dangerous.

But, you know, it’s not like – it didn’t wear me down. Physically there wasn’t any issues there. I just got myself back into the match in the fourth set and didn’t quite take my opportunities when I had them.
You know, I didn’t hit my backhand particularly well today, which is normally one of my best shots.

Q. Everyone’s talking about what an open tournament it is now. But another guy, South American that we’re still not hearing much about is Del Potro. Do you think he is a legitimate threat to win this tournament?

ANDY MURRAY: Um, yeah, I mean, he’s not got that much experience in the end of Slams, but he’s obviously confident. He’s playing well. He’s got a very poor record against Federer. I don’t think he’s ever won a set against him.

May be a huge struggle if he plays Roger. Roger struggled in a lot of his matches here, as well. He’s probably feeling, you know, the pressure of this being his chance to win the French.

Yeah, anything can happen. I think that’s what’s great about Slams. It has been slightly predictable the last few years, but I think tennis this year has seen a big change.

Q. You were relatively demonstrative emotionally at times. Do you feel like there were any moments when you were not as much emotionally in control as you would want to be? And when were those moments?

ANDY MURRAY: No, I always felt like I was in control of my emotions. But sometimes, you know, at the beginning of the second set    sorry, beginning of the third set, you know, I didn’t really say a whole lot.

Then I tried to fire myself up early in the beginning of the fourth. Like I say, I managed to start playing better, but I don’t think it was anything to do with emotions why    or whether I would have won or lost the match.

That’s something that hasn’t been any issue. It’s all for the last year or so.

Q. Usually a Brit would be the first to ask a question about Wimbledon, but I’m just wondering, when you go there after you play on clay, what’s your impression when you change from the grass to here?

ANDY MURRAY: Normally I have a lot longer to prepare on that than I had this year, so I might find that a little bit tougher, you know, at Queen’s or whatnot.

But, no, the thing that’s different is just the height that the ball bounces at is the main thing, obviously, here. You know, some of the kick serves and stuff are getting up like way, way, way, way above your head.

On grass, it’s always coming through nice and low. It’s kinda sore on the hamstrings, you know, the first few days. I don’t know, it’s just something you    you have to hit it   well, you don’t have to, but I try and hit a flatter ball, obviously, on grass.

That’s the one big change. You don’t hit a whole lot of flat shots on the clay.

Q. Good clay court season like this, does this set you up, give you more momentum going into the grass court season than perhaps you had before?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean the year as a whole has been by far up to this stage my best so far. You know, I’ve won a lot of matches, a lot more matches on clay this year than I had in the past probably    I probably won double the amount of matches that I had won in my life on clay before this stretch.

Yeah, I don’t feel like I’m going to be rusty at all going into the grass, because obviously I played a lot and still feel confident. It’s not like a match like this is going to, you know, I’m going to sort of get down about it or anything.
I’ll just go and improve and work on some things the next week or so, and hopefully be playing well on the grass.

Q. Were you aware that you could become No. 2 in the world in this tournament?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I knew    I didn’t know the exact in sand outs of how I would have got there. You know, I know if I won the tournament I would have gone to 2, and that was the one thing you try and focus on.

You know, it’s sometimes quite easy to sort of wait for guys to lose and stop focusing on your own matches. You know, I was just trying to win my own matches. You know, I had the chance, but obviously not now.

Roger Federer and Venus Williams had hard fought matches in the second round of Roland Garros, and came back into the match registering wins.

Federer made a comeback after being down 5-1 in the third set against Jose Acasuso of Argentina ranked No. 45 in the world. It was a tough match for Federer as he first saved the first set after not letting Acasuso take four set points and later came back again in the third set. The final score of the match was 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. This is an important grand slam as a win will help him equal Pete Sampras’s record of 14.

In a post match interview Federer said “Yeah, could have won both, first three sets. Could have lost them, also. Of course, I’m thrilled, you know, to be through. It was sort of a fun match to be part of, you know, with so many ups and downs. It’s not the usual, you know. I thought Jose played well, and I started to struggle a little bit throughout the third set after sort of being up a break in the second set and things were looking like things were under control. I was mistaken. I’m happy to have come through such a tough match, you know. Those matches are good, you know, knowing that physically it wasn’t a problem. I’m excited about the next match, that’s for sure.”

Venus Williams defeated Lucie Safarova 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 in a match suspended by darkness after the first set last night. Williams in a post match interview said “Yeah, it was a well played match. Yesterday I think I did too many things wrong. She just was firing for every shot and making them. Obviously with the delay was a lot of things to think about beforehand, what I could do different, and just tried to be as aggressive as I could. The last two sets, you know, it was close. But these kind of matches are really rewarding, and she was playing well. But I felt like I deserved it.”
French Open men’s singles second round results:

French Open men’s singles second round

Roger Federer (2) def. Jose Acasuso, 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
Novak Djokovic (4) vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3, 6-4 suspended
Juan Martin Del Potro (5) def. Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 7-5, 6-0
Andy Roddick (6) def. Ivo Minar, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9) def. Juan Monaco, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8)
Nikolay Davydenko (10) def. Diego Junqueira, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2
Gael Monfils (11) def. Victor Crivoi, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
Tommy Robredo (16) def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
Jurgen Melzer (24) def. Guillaume Rufin, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
Igor Andreev (25) def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber, (29) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7) suspended
Paul-Henri Mathieu (32) def. Pablo Andujar, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Christophe Rochus def. Arnaud Clement, 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Maximo Gonzalez def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 6-3
Tommy Haas def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3
Marc Gicquel def. Andreas Beck, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5
Jeremy Chardy def. Simone Bolelli, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1

French Open women’s singles second round

Serena Williams (2) def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-2, 6-0
Venus Williams (3) def. Lucie Safarova, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5
Elena Dementieva (4) def. Jelena Dokic, , 2-6, 4-3 retired
Jelena Jankovic (5) def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1, 6-2
Svetlana Kuznetsova (7) def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-0, 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki (10) def. Jill Craybas, 6-1, 6-4
Agnieszka Radwanska (12) def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-1, 6-4
Tathiana Garbin def. Marion Bartoli (13), 6-3, 7-5
Virginie Razzano def. Anabel Medina Garrigues (18), 6-2, 6-2
Sorana Cirstea def. Alize Cornet (21), 6-3, 6-2
Aleksandra Wozniak (24) def. Petra Martic, 6-3, 6-3
Melinda Czink def. Sybille Bammer (28), 4-6, 6-3, 10-8
Samantha Stosur (30) def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Kateryna Bondarenko def. Olivia Rogowska, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
Alexa Glatch vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 6-7, 5-7
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Viktoria Kutuzova, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Jarmila Groth def. Mariana Duque Marino, 6-2, 7-6 (11-9)

The 2nd seed Serena Williams celebrated the first round victory as if she had won the Roland Garros title after defeating an opponent ranked No. 100 in the world. Serena came into the match after loosing four consecutive matches after having lost the final of the hard-court tournament in Miami and the three round one exists from Marbella, Rome and Madrid. Serena also avenged her defeat which she has suffered from the hand of Klara Zakopalova at the Andalucia Tennis Championships in Marbella, Spain.

It clearly showed in her match play that she had not fully recovered from the thigh injury. She also showed lack of practice on clay as she had a lot of trouble sliding and hitting at the same time. The first set was easy for Serena with a score of 6-3. Serena could have finished the match itself in the second set but Zakopalova came back strongly with stunning returns. Serena lost five match points and gifted the set to Zakopalova.

In the third set Zakopalova continued the momentum by breaking Serena’s serve and taking a 2-1 lead. Williams stopped her advance with a double break and lead the set 5-2 but could not capitalize on three match points on her opponents serve. In total Serena lost eight match points during the match. She finally won the match with a score 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4.

Serena Williams will now face Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the second round. for a place in the third round. But it is clear that if Serena has to go deeper in the event she certainly need to improve her movement on the court.

Results for Day 3 –

French Open men’s singles first round

Novak Djokovic (4) def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3, 3-1 retired
Juan Martin Del Potro (5) def. Michael Llodra, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9) def. Julien Benneteau, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Gael Monfils (11) def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1
James Blake (15) def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-7 (6-8), 5-7, 2-6
Tommy Robredo (16) def. Adrian Mannarino, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2
Dmitry Tursunov (21) def. Arnaud Clement, 3-6, 6-3 suspended
Mardy Fish (22) def. Maximo Gonzalez, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (4-7)
Rainer Schuettler (27) def. Marc Gicquel, 0-6, 0-6, 4-6
Philipp Kohlschreiber (29) def. Bernard Tomic, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Ivan Ljubicic, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Viktor Troicki def. Lukasz Kubot, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
Evgeny Korolev def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 4-6 retired
Brian Dabul def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (2-7), 3-6
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Andreas Seppi, 3-6, 3-6, 1-6
Victor Crivoi def. Simon Greul, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
Marcos Baghdatis def. Juan Monaco, 3-6, 2-6, 4-6
Andrei Pavel def. Tommy Haas, 1-6, 4-6, 4-6
Ivan Navarro def. Andreas Beck, 6-7 (9-11), 4-6, 1-6
Fabrice Santoro def. Christophe Rochus, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 3-5 suspended

French Open women’s singles first round

Serena Williams (2) def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
Elena Dementieva (4) def. Chanelle Scheepers,6-4, 6-3
Jelena Jankovic (5) def. Petra Cetkovska,6-2, 6-3
Svetlana Kuznetsova (7) def. Claire Feuerstein, 6-1, 6-4
Caroline Wozniacki (10) def. Vera Dushevina, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Anabel Medina Garrigues (18) def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0
Alize Cornet, (21) def. Maret Ani, , 6-4, 4-4 suspended
Aleksandra Wozniak, (24) def. Monica Niculescu, , 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Sybille Bammer (28) def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1)
Samantha Stosur (30) def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4, 6-2
Shuai Peng (31) def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 6-1, 2-6, 4-6
Viktoria Kutuzova def. Zuzana Ondraskova, 6-2, 6-4
Yanina Wickmayer def. Urszula Radwanska, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
Jelena Dokic def. Karolina Sprem, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Carly Gullickson def. Sorana Cirstea, 4-6, 2-6
Mara Santangelo def. Petra Martic, 4-6, 2-6
Galina Voskoboeva def. Sania Mirza, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4, 6-3
Anastasija Sevastova def. Melinda Czink, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6
Magdalena Rybarikova def. Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 2-6, 8-6
Virginie Razzano def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3, 6-3

Not an ideal start what the reigning champion Rafael Nadal had expected on his fifth consecutive French Open title.World number one Rafael Nadal hobbled to second round with a victory over Brazilian Marcos Daniel in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. It took Rafael Nadal two hours and twenty three minutes to beat the Brazilian. Rafael Nadal has a clean record at Roland Garros and has never lost a match since his debut in 2005. Wit the win Rafael Nadal also improved his record 29-0 at Roland Garros and equaled Christ Evert’s all-time record of consecutive match wins at the French Open. But Rafael Nadal showed that he is still human when we was down in the second set 1-3 but smartly managed to win the set 6-4.

During the course of the match Rafael Nadal broke Daniels serve seven times and hit 36 winners. Rafael Nadal had 32 unforced errors during the match.

In a post match interview Rafael Nadal said

“The first match is always difficult. I was a little nervous because this tournament is very special to me, but I feel good.”

On being asked about this choice of bright clothing, Rafael Nadal said “It’s the same reason why I wore white and yellow two weeks ago – because its better then dressing the same color every week.”

Rafael Nadal will now face either Teimuraz Gabashvili or Igor Kunitsyn of Russia in the second round of French Open.

Some other results for the day were:
Andy Roddick beat French wildcard Romain Jouan 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
Dinara Safina demolished Britain’s Anne Keothavong  6-0, 6-0.
Russian Maria Sharapova beat Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Venus Williams beats fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 4-6, 6-2