TENNIS: French Open up to the fourth round
Jun. 3rd, 2025 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI’m glad ‘Roland Garros’ put Rafael Nadal’s goodbye on YouTube. It was nearly flawless (the flaw being interpretive dancing), from getting the crowd to wear those t-shirts, and what they did in the upper rows to the footprint for posterity. That Nadal got to say his say (I followed most of the French, and have a soft spot for him speaking it with his thick accent. Didn’t follow the Spanish so well, but the fact that his son perked up when he did was adorable) and that he was also surprised by some of the touches, like bringing on the backroom people he’d namechecked in his speech, and got the time and space for this moment, while being clearly moved, was lovely. I clocked Alcaraz and Ferrero, and apparently Swiatek was there too, and as those are both the defending champions, with different reasons to hold him in high regard, that was nice too.
As for the tennis, (I caught up via news reports, live radio and highlights), no day 1 upsets. I think Fritz was the first big seed out (though I didn’t expect him to make a deep run here.) Badosa, seeded, won against Osaka in three sets. Radio Five Live Sports Extra were very excited that six Brits were through to the second round for the first time since the 1970s. One of them was Norrie, having beaten Medvedev in a topsy-turvy five sets (admittedly, not the Medvedev of two years ago and more.)
Swiatek bulldozed Raducanu in round 2, FWIW. Ruud lost, but he seemed to have got injured during his second round match. There seemed to be fewer upsets on the women’s side. By the end of round 2, all the British women were out – Boulter at the hands of Keys – but the three men were through, and Fearnley and Norrie would be facing each other. Norrie won, and would be facing Djokovic again. Keys won a very tight match against Kenin, having saved three match points against her.
In the fourth round, Rybakina blasted Swiatek off the court in the first set, but Swiatek fought her way back to win in three. I wish those two would play better regularly so that that could be a final Svitolina somehow turned things around to beat Paolini (who’d had at least one match point) in three sets. The biggest upset was when French wildcard Lois Boisson beat Pegula in three. I emphasise, she’s the last French singles player standing in Paris, she’s in her early 20s, but even her best ranking would not predict that. She’s the big surprise in the quarter final line-up, which features six of the top eight seeded players.
And then Draper vs Bublik did not go to plan, which was for the fifth seed to go through to see how he matched up to Sinner on clay. Mercurial Bublik (he’s never been as bad as Kyrigos, but you wouldn’t cite him as an example for any junior player) was playing his very best tennis in the last three sets and Draper was finding it unplayable. Bublik is the one through to his first French Open quarter final.
As for the tennis, (I caught up via news reports, live radio and highlights), no day 1 upsets. I think Fritz was the first big seed out (though I didn’t expect him to make a deep run here.) Badosa, seeded, won against Osaka in three sets. Radio Five Live Sports Extra were very excited that six Brits were through to the second round for the first time since the 1970s. One of them was Norrie, having beaten Medvedev in a topsy-turvy five sets (admittedly, not the Medvedev of two years ago and more.)
Swiatek bulldozed Raducanu in round 2, FWIW. Ruud lost, but he seemed to have got injured during his second round match. There seemed to be fewer upsets on the women’s side. By the end of round 2, all the British women were out – Boulter at the hands of Keys – but the three men were through, and Fearnley and Norrie would be facing each other. Norrie won, and would be facing Djokovic again. Keys won a very tight match against Kenin, having saved three match points against her.
In the fourth round, Rybakina blasted Swiatek off the court in the first set, but Swiatek fought her way back to win in three. I wish those two would play better regularly so that that could be a final Svitolina somehow turned things around to beat Paolini (who’d had at least one match point) in three sets. The biggest upset was when French wildcard Lois Boisson beat Pegula in three. I emphasise, she’s the last French singles player standing in Paris, she’s in her early 20s, but even her best ranking would not predict that. She’s the big surprise in the quarter final line-up, which features six of the top eight seeded players.
And then Draper vs Bublik did not go to plan, which was for the fifth seed to go through to see how he matched up to Sinner on clay. Mercurial Bublik (he’s never been as bad as Kyrigos, but you wouldn’t cite him as an example for any junior player) was playing his very best tennis in the last three sets and Draper was finding it unplayable. Bublik is the one through to his first French Open quarter final.
