Day Two Overview
The Women
Justine Henin of Belgium celebrates
Bookmaker favorite Justine Henin was pressured by hard hitting Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova but used her center court experience to prevail in the 6-4, 6-3 triumph. Henin registered her 22nd straight win at Roland Garros but first since claiming the 2007 title but said she was nervous with her return to Court Philippe Chartier.
Despite Pironkova’s hard play, Henin managed a striking 31-19 winners to unforced errors ratio. The slugging Bulgarian could serve as a prelude to future play in the draw’s deepest bracket. Henin will have to play through Sharapova in the third round, Stosur in the fourth and then Serena Williams in the quarters to get out alive. Stosur is an in-form seven seed while Sharapova is a former number one and of course Williams is the top seed. Whew!
In other activity, number nine seed Dinara Safina continued her downhill slide, falling to 39-year old Kimiko Date Krumm after the Russian had a set inn hand and led 4-1 in the second. The 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 comeback made Krumm the oldest player to win a Grand Slam match against a top ten seed and will most likely land Safina in the 20-30 range of rankings.
Maria Sharapova was impressive in her quick 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Ksenia Pervak. The former number one appears to still struggle with her agility but her shoulder seems healed.
As expected Yanina Wickmayer, Marion Bartoli, Vera Zvonareva, Daniela Hantuchova and Sharar Peer all advanced to round two. Peer registered her tour leading 28th win of the season. Tour veterans Jill Claybas joined Krumm in leading the seniors forward.
The Men
Rafa Nadal celebrates his win over Giani Mina
Rafa Nadal does not waste energy on first round matches and he completed a straight-set 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over French wild card Giani Mina. The 18-year old was more competitive than expected and to the delight of the enthusiastic French audience kept the number two seed on the court for two hours and 23 minutes.
With the win, Rafael Nadal improved his 2010 clay court record to 16-0. Rafa is seeking to become juts the second player to win five Roland Garros Championships. Bjorn Borg holds six titles.
The second hottest player on the tour is Spain’s 11th seeded David Ferrer, who ousted France’s Davis Guez 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Ferrer lost only five points on serve.
Another hot player is left-hander Fernando Verdasco, the 7 seed. Verdasco kept it going with a 6-4, 62, 6-2 win over Russian Igor Kunitsyn in under to hours.
Six seed American Andy Roddick had to rally against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen. Roddick cruised through the first set but lost the next two and had to mount a rally to win the fourth set tiebreaker before steaming ahead in the fifth set. The 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 may signal hard times ahead for Roddick, not known as a clay court power.
Sam Querrey was upset at the hands of another American, youngster Robby Ginepri. The 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-2 win was Ginepri’s biggest of his career and his first clay court win of the year. The 22 ranked Querrey has had recent success on clay and was considered a threat at Roland Garros.
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