The French crowd were treated to some spectacular matches today in Paris, with all 5 of their male players in action on day 4 progressing into round three.
Gilles Simon started off the French success with a straight-sets win over Slovakian Martin Klizan. The No. 12 seed opened up proceedings on court one, setting the tone for the day amongst the French players. Simon converted seven of his 11 break point opportunities to beat Klizan 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 for a fifth successive 3rd round appearance in Roland Garros.
With Simon already getting the day off to a great start Jo-Wilfried Tsonga swiftly followed suit. ‘Jo-Willy’ delighted the home crowd to a straight-sets dismissal of his Israeli opponent, Dudi Sela. The No. 14 seed, converted six of his 12 break point opportunities to brush aside Sela with an emphatic 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win.
Buoyed on by the French crowd on centre court was Gael Monfils, never one to put on a bad show, came through in traditionally dramatic Monfils fashion. The No. 13 seed fought past Diego Schwartzman eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in front of a delighted Philippe-Chatrier Crowd. Monfils looked good throughout the tough contest and hit 68 winners. The win improved him to a 14-10 lifetime record in five-set matches and was also 100th his victory on ATP level clay.
The two other Frenchman in play today were Benoit Paire and Nicolas Mahut, both of whom scored upset worthy victories.
Paire was the first of the two Frenchman to cause an upset, taking out No. 28 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy in Straight sets. Fognini incurred the wrath of the French crowd before he’d even struck a ball, he turned up to the match late leaving his French opponent waiting on court of 10 minutes before eventually getting underway with the match. With the crowd firmly on his side Paire remained calm and collected in order to beat his higher ranked opponent 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.
Mahut could feel the waves of French support echoing through the Roland Garros grounds as he took out last year’s semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis in four tight sets. The unseeded Frenchman dropped his form slightly in the second set to allow the 24th Seeded Latvian back into the match. The fightback from Gulbis didn’t last long with Mahut eventually prevailing, taking the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to complete the French success on the men’s side on day 4.
With Richard Gasquet and Jeremy Chardy both in action on day 5, the two remaining Frenchman could make it a clean sweep into round 3. Gasquet takes on Carlos Berloq of Argentina, while Chardy will have his work cut out when he plays big serving American John Isner also for a spot in the third round.
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