Tough Day for Serena Williams

May 27, 2009

Tough Day for Serena Williams

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