It was a far from routine day for some of the world’s very best as rain once again played its part in proceedings. Marin Cilic was the highest-profile casualty as he lost to a qualifier, whilst Stan Wawrinka was pushed hard by the tenacious Lukas Rosol. Andy Murray’s fate will be decided tomorrow as his match was postponed as darkness descended on the red clay at Roland Garros.
After rain delayed the start of play, Stan Wawrinka almost became the first defending champion to lose in the first round in French Open history. He twice came from a set down to eventually overturn Lukas Rosol 4-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4. Andy Murray will have to return to court on Tuesday as a lethargic display saw him drop his first two sets to Radek Stepanek, 6-4 6-4. The #2 seed won the third set 6-0 and is 4-2 up in the fourth overnight. Murray’s woes very much masked a major shock as 2014 US Open champion, Marin Cilic suffered a shock 7-6(4) 3-6 6-4 6-2 first round exit at the hands of largely unknown qualifier Marco Trungelliti.
Defending Champion in a Spot of Bother
Just two days ago Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic were competing in the final of the ATP 250 in Geneva and both looked notably jaded from that experience. Lukas Rosol has always been a dangerous opponent but few expected him to trouble the Wawrinka in the way he did today. It took a set and a half for the current champion to fire himself up, a sizzling passing forehand on the stretch coupled with a rousing “Allez” sparking the Swiss star into life.
After splitting the opening two sets Rosol came out firing, quickly breaking and consolidating to roll through the third set. It took another breathless moment from Stan, grinding out victory in a 31-shot rally, to spark the crowd into life and swing momentum back in his favor in the fourth set. After clinching it, the third seed needed just a single break of serve in the deciding set to seal victory. It was an erratic display from Wawrinka who looked out-of-sorts on the Parisian clay.
Andy Murray Comeback Halted by Darkness
Meanwhile, plenty of pre-tournament talk had been over Andy Murray’s chances following his sublime dismissal of Novak Djokovic in the Madrid final two weeks ago. Once the draw was released his chances were hyped up even more with his route considered fairly clear until the quarter-finals.
Yet facing him on the other side of the net was a Spaniard who is well aware that, at 37 years old, every minute on court is precious. Radek Stepanek came out firing on all cylinders with his flat hitting combined with the heavy playing surface proving problematic for a wayward Murray. The Brit, struggling with consistency on his forehand side, failed to create a single break point opportunity in the first two sets, dropping them both 6-3 6-3 much to everyone’s surprise.
A change of intensity was obviously needed in the third set and a vocal Murray duly delivered with a cacophony of “come on”s and “lets go”s. His change in vocal volume correlated with a change on the court, as he turned the screw on the ailing Spaniard, storming through the third set in just 18 minutes.
With darkness approaching at a rate of knots, Murray was keen to power through the fourth set. However, with Stepanek making a better fist of things in the fourth, the pair were eventually called to a halt at 4-2 to Murray. They will return to action tomorrow to conclude with Murray still trailing two sets to one.
Marin Cilic Dismissed by Inspired Qualifier
With all eyes on the ailing Brit, few noticed the huge shock unravelling on court two. As with Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray, there was a general feeling that Marin Cilic was in reasonable enough form to progress through to the second week. Few would have predicted that his run would be ended by the #166 ranked qualifier, Marco Trungelliti.
The Argentinian has never been inside the top #150 but played the match of his life to upset the big serving Croat and cause the biggest shock of the tournament so far. Breaking the serve seven times, Trungelliti coped well with the penetrating groundstrokes of Cilic. After holding his nerve in the first set tie-break, the match looked to be slipping away as Cilic reeled off four games in a row to seal the second set 6-3. Instead of fading though, the Argentinian re-grouped, routing Cilic 6-4 6-2 for only his second ever Grand Slam victory.
Not all the seeds had an arduous day though. Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori won their matches in straight sets against Janko Tipsarevic and Simone Bolelli respectively whilst there were also wins for home favourites Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet and Jeremy Chardy.
As well as the conclusion of Andy Murray’s match, tomorrow also signals the start of the French Open campaigns of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Dominic Thiem.
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