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Liveblogging Day One of Roland Garros

By Amy on May 26, 2013

Bonjour. It’s a holiday weekend here in the US, and I’m awake at 5:00 a.m. to watch hours and hours of Day One of the French Open, like every normal person. I’ll be liveblogging all the action right here.

Here is today’s Order of Play. Some matches of note:

Ana Ivanovic vs. Petra Martic – First match on Phillippe Chatrier
Urszula Radwanska vs. Venus Williams – Last match on Suzanne Lenglen
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Andrea Hlavackova – First match on Court 3
Ayumi Morita vs. Yulia Putintseva – Second match on Court 7

Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and David Ferrer begin their French Open campaigns as well.

I’ll be checking in on those matches and more throughout the day.

Wow, 5:00 a.m. feels exactly as gross as it sounds.

Apparently it’s pretty cold in Paris.

11:28 a.m. (I’m going to go with Paris time) – Ivanovic is already up 5-0 vs. Martic.

11:39 a.m. – Ivanovic takes the first set 6-1. Errani takes the first set 6-1 over Rus, Raonic takes the first set 6-2 over Malisse, Cetkovska takes the first set 6-0 over Puchkova, and Sousa takes the first set 6-1 over Soeda. Some early baked goods in Paris.

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12:02 p.m. – Ivanovic is bizarrely down 4-1 in the second set against a rusty Martic. I’m not sure Ivanovic’s level dropped that much, Martic just isn’t playing like garbage anymore.

12:06 p.m. – Errani d. Rus 6-1, 6-2, and Cetkovska d. Puchkova 6-0, 6-2.

12:22 p.m. – Martic has taken the second set 6-3 vs. Ivanovic.

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12:32 p.m. – Ivanovic is “ajde”-ing on Martic’s errors. Not her finest moment. She’s up 2-0 in the decider, though.

The Changeover team is off to a healthy start to the French Open:

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12:42 p.m. After winning just three games in the first two sets, Malisse has surprisingly taken the third set against Raonic to force a fourth.

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1:03 p.m. – Ivanovic finally closes out the match against Martic. Kind of a disastrous display from the former RG champ. But you don’t get points for winning in style.

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1:29 p.m. – Lleyton Hewitt has taken a two sets to love lead against Gilles Simon. Simon did look horrid in his match against Federer in Rome, so it’s not too surprising, really.

1:34 p.m. – It takes Putintseva just 36 minutes to take the first set against Morita, 6-2. The Russian-born youngster is hitting with some nice depth.

1:49 p.m. – Pavlyuchenkova comes back from a set down to beat Hlavackova. Hlavackova served for the match in the second set. Meanwhile, Serena Williams has bageled Tatishvilli in 20 minutes.

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2:16 p.m. – Putintseva beats Morita, 6-2, 6-3. It was a pretty commanding display. She gets Errani next. Meanwhile, Serena has beaten Tatishvilli 6-0, 6-1.

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3:16 p.m. – Federer has rushed to a 6-2, 5-1 lead against Carreno-Busta. Earlier today, a couple commentators were talking up this particular match-up for some reason as if it were going to be competitive.

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3:33 p.m. – Lleyton Hewitt has managed to level the deciding set at 5-all, after trailing Simon 5-0. Crazy match.

3:41 p.m. – After all that trouble, Hewitt gets broken while serving to stay in the match. Simon takes the final set 7-5.

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Tomorrow’s Order of Play is out. Li Na, Rafa, Berdych, and Sharapova are in action on Phillippe Chatrier.

3:53 p.m. – This was awkward:

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4:01 p.m. – Federer beats Carrreno-Busta 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 20 minutes. An efficient display from the World No. 3.

4:20 p.m. – In her first ever Grand Slam match, the 19-year-old Monica Puig scores a big upset over Nadia Petrova, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4! Petrova earns the dubious honor of being the first seeded player to fall in Roland Garros.

7:45 p.m. – Lindsay here, filling you guys in on the end of the day. Let’s see, what exciting has happened?

Well, Venus Williams and Ula Radwanska are in the middle of a break-a-thon. Venus lost the seesaw 71-minute first set in a tiebreak, but she’s up a break 3-2 in the second.

Andy Murray is enthralled.



James Blake, who is still playing tennis, is down two sets to the infamous Victor Troicki. He went up an early break in each set, but it didn’t matter.

Kiki Bertens and Sorana Cirstea are naturally into a third set, and Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez are on their way to splitting the first two sets. Oh, and Nicolas Mahut is showing off his boxers:

8:00 p.m. – Venus is still trying her darndest to take it to a third set. Her back is clearly still giving her trouble and effecting her serve, and Ula is getting too many balls back.

She’s up 5-3 in the second though, so we’ll see!

Meanwhile, Donna Vekic lost to Mallory Burdette today, but seems to be coping well:

8:05 p.m. – Grace Min lost a heartbreaker to Voskoboeva.

Also, Sorana won and Brodie is happy!

8:40 p.m. – VENUS WILLIAMS WON SEVEN STRAIGHT POINTS TO TAKE THE SECOND SET IN A TIE-BREAK. SHE WAS DOWN 0-4.

Phew. I am TOO EXCITED ABOUT THIS.

Venus served for the second set twice and was broken each time. Ula then played a phenomenal tiebreak to go up 4-0, but somehow Venus won seven points in a row to win it. The last point was KILLER.

Oh, and James Blake lost in three sets. And Marcel and Feli are still playing.

9:11 p.m. – Venus is down 1-5 in the third set. Ula Radwanksa is playing brilliantly. She is way better than her sister on clay.

I am sad.

9:15 p.m. – Feliciano Lopez took the third set from Marcel, is now up two sets to one and a break in the fourth.

Oh, and he’s pretty.

9:35 p.m. – Venus fought back with all of her might, but Ula was just too good today. Still the match of the day by far, really high quality play.

We survived Day One! Kind of. Amy will be back here tomorrow to liveblog Day Two. Thanks for following along!


Amy can be spotted on a tennis court in the Philadelphia area, shanking backhand volleys.

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6 Responses

  1. Tennisfan
    Tennisfan May 26, 2013 at 6:08 am |

    Thanks for waking up early for coverage Amy. It sucks living in Australia during this stretch of this season too so you aren’t alone. Btw do you think the Fed match today could be a lot tougher than most expect? Weather in Paris looks heavy, don’t think Nadal will be liking this…

    1. Amy
      Amy May 26, 2013 at 6:57 am |

      Glad I’m not alone! I’m really not a morning person at all. I’m more likely to stay up until 5:00 a.m. than to wake up at 5:00 a.m. (except when I play tennis in the morning).

      I wouldn’t anticipate the Fed match to be too dramatic, but you never know!

      1. Tennisfan
        Tennisfan May 26, 2013 at 9:33 am |

        You were right Amy. Federer cruising at the moment. He looks like he’s in good form for this tournament, hope he gets some rhythm on the clay at RG unlike last year, he never looked like he was comfortable in his matches. So far, so good.

  2. Henk
    Henk May 26, 2013 at 2:21 pm |

    Radwanska is showing the world how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory atm

  3. Henk
    Henk May 26, 2013 at 2:51 pm |

    GUHHHH please don’t let Venus win this match

  4. Andy
    Andy May 27, 2013 at 3:04 pm |

    Monflis deserved for victory. Berdych without power last set and last game . He knew at final game tha he will lose

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