Mathieu Edges Isner In French Open Marathon; Nadal Stays Hot As Federer, Djokovic, Del Potro Return Friday
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John Isner is going to go down in tennis lore as the Marathon Man. Armed with one of biggest serves the sport has ever seen, and one of the most futile return games, the American is all but programmed to play long, nailbitting matches. And he played another one Thursday against another Frenchman. This time, it didn’t end in victory, but it took a while getting there.
Two years ago it took Isner 11-hours, 5-minutes to beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in one of the greatest matches of all-time at Wimbledon. Today, Mahut’s countryman and former Top 15 player Paul-Henri Mathieu got revenge for Mahut, outlasting Isner 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16 in much shorter 5-hours, 41-minutes Thursday to reach the third round at the French Open.
“I remember Mahut’s match, so I just couldn’t believe it was over,” reflected Mathieu. “I had match point. It was tough. Every time I needed to concentrate and focus again on my serve, so when the match was over, I had trouble realising it was really over.”
The 30-year-old Mathieu, whose leg was in a cast a year ago because of a bad knee, enjoyed a quite a moment of joy in front of his home fans, especially after his long journey back to the pros.
“Having the opportunity of experiencing such a thing as I did tonight, it’s incredible,” he said. “Playing like this on a big court like this is fantastic, especially after being injured. This is why I fought and tried to come back. It’s to have those moments again.”
Credit to Mathieu who I didn’t give much of a chance in that fifth given his lack of match play and uncertain fitness. Back in his prime days in the mid 2000s, Mathieu was an excellent player with an all-court game and a terrific backhand. And it’s good to see he still has it.
For Isner, what can you say? It’s a typical match for Big John who to my surprise just couldn’t crack the Mathieu serve. And he may have overplayed coming into the tournament.
“I escaped a lot today; it could have been worse,” said Isner who was the last American man left. “But I just didn’t get it done. I felt like I got caught in patterns that weren’t ideal for me. I was hitting every return to his backhand and he was stepping up and running me around. I’m not gonna win the point when I’m running side to side.”
The other big result as the second round (almost) closed was Andy Murray. The 2011 semifinalist looked dead and gone down a set and a break and struggling with a bad back to Jarkko Nieminen. But as quick as you can say “C’mon Andy”, Murray’s back improved after some treatment and he took control of the match winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
“I was absolutely fine yesterday in practice, no problem, went to bed and I was fine, and I woke up this morning, I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg,” said Murray. “I practised. It was okay. Not great, but it was okay. Then, before the match, I wasn’t feeling great. [I] talked about not playing.
“Then right at the beginning of the match, again, I was okay. I don’t know if it was nerves, adrenaline, whatever. It wasn’t too bad. Then after I got up from the changeover at 3-0, it was really, really sore. And then obviously was struggling a lot for, about an hour, hour [and] 15 [minutes], hour and a half. Then it started to feel a bit better. But still not great. Just kind of gritting my teeth and try to find a way of turning the match around, because I was [a] few points probably from stopping, around the middle of the second set.”
If Murray’s back is indeed that bad – we’ve seen him feigning injury before – it could be a long, tough summer for the Scot. With the busy schedule ahead, it’s going to very, very difficult to find the time to heal an injury like a back muscle. But we’ll see.
Showing no ill effects of his early-season knee/shoulder injuries has been heavy favorite Rafael Nadal. Looking like the King of Clay that he is, Nadal blew out Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 for his ninth 16th straight win at Roland Garros.
As for tomorrow, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic return against Frenchmen, and both shouldn’t have much of a problem, really. JW Tsonga will have to deal with Fabio Fognini. Yes, the Fognini who, in my mind, derailed the hopes of Djokovic’s French Open title last year by withdrawing from his quarterfinal match against the Serb.
But in the match of the day, another guy with an injury, Juan Martin Del Potro, tests his knee against Marin Cilic. If the knee holds up Del Potro should get through. But with the fragile Argentine you never know.
Looking at the draws, with Murray fighting a back injury and Isner out, things are looking great for David Ferrer to make his first French Open semifinal. Ferrer has Youzhny next and though it won’t be a breeze, I think this year he finally gets it done.
Nadal now gets Eduoardo Schwank then a big match with either Juan Monaco or Milos Raonic. He’ll blow out Monaco but Raonic could sneak a set at most. And even that’s a big ask. Otherwise, Rafa’s getting to the semifinal without dropping a set. He’s on easy street in his section.
In the top half, Djokovic could get tested by Fernando Verdasco and maybe Tsonga, Simon or Wawrinka, but I don’t think any of them can knock off the Serb, not in best-of-5 format. So I’d be stunned if Novak wasn’t playing a week from tomorrow.
As for his opponent next Friday, it’s still tough to call. I picked Del Potro to emerge out of that second quarter but with his questionable knee I’m not sure if he can do it anymore. That leaves Federer or Tomas Berdych. Federer hasn’t looked great, Berdych has. But if they meet – Federer has a joke draw out the QF, Berdych still has Anderson then Del Potro – can Berdych really be trusted to keep it together mentally for three sets and beat Roger? I doubt it.
ESPN2 has live coverage starting at 5am ET. Tennis Channel takes over against at 10am ET.
FRIDAY FRENCH OPEN SCHEDULE
Court Philippe Chatrier 11:00 AM Start Time
1. Women’s Singles – 3rd Round
Sloane Stephens (USA) v. Mathilde Johansson (FRA)
2. Women’s Singles – 3rd Round
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[3] v. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[26]
3. Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
Fabio Fognini (ITA) v. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)[5]
4. Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
Roger Federer (SUI)[3] v. Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
Court Suzanne Lenglen 11:00 AM Start Time
1. Women’s Singles – 3rd Round
Sara Errani (ITA)[21] v. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[13]
Not Before:12:30 PM
2. Women’s Singles – 2nd Round
Ayumi Morita (JPN) v. Maria Sharapova (RUS)[2]
3. Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
Gilles Simon (FRA)[11] v. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)[18]
4. Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
Novak Djokovic (SRB)[1] v. Nicolas Devilder (FRA)
5. Women’s Singles – 3rd Round
Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[1] v. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
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