Djokovic Beats Rain, Goffin Tuesday at French Open
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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic came through a tough test in his opening-round match on a rain-soaked Tuesday at Roland Garros where a number of matches were not completed or not started.
Djokovic defeated Belgian David “The Boffin” Goffin in a tightly-contested match 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-5.
“He did really well at the start, and throughout all the match he was playing really nice tennis from baseline,” Djokovic said. “It was a tough match. I needed to fight all the way through every set, and I served well when I needed to and played my best tennis when it was most important.”
There were two men’s upsets on the day as Russian Dmitry Tursunov took out No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(7), 6-4, 7-6(7), and Uzbek Denis Istomin advanced when No. 28 seed Florian Mayer retired with a thigh injury down two sets to one.
Other seeded winners into the second round were No. 9 Stan Wawrinka, No. 12 Tommy Haas, No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 26 Grigor Dimitrov, and No. 29 Mikhail Youzhny.
American qualifier Jack Sock was a straight-set winner over Spaniard Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez, and will next meet Haas.
ADHEREL
Troubled Aussie Bernard Tomic retired with injury against Victor Hanescu, then regarding his even-more-troubled dad told the media, “He’s here in Paris. He’s still working with me. He’s still my coach. He’s still my dad, and I love him a lot. Nothing’s changed. The injury to my leg is the only thing I’m worrying about.”
No surprises in the end on the women’s side Tuesday with only 10 matches completed, and all six seeds in play advancing.
Struggling through in three sets were No. 13 Marion Bartoli over Belarus’ Olga Govortsova 7-6(8), 4-6, 7-5, and No. 27 Yaroslava Shvedova defeating American Coco Vandeweghe 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.
Bartoli saved match points down 3-5 in the third.
“It was a very long day,” Bartoli said. “I started at 11 o’clock and then again at 2 and we finished at 6, so it was a very long match, and I think the rain delay was to my disadvantage, because I think I was dominating a little bit and I think she was able to regroup in the break. She started to play really well and missed pretty much nothing, and was hitting her backhands really strong and deep. If I lost this match I don’t think I’d have any regrets because I was really doing the best I could.”
Other seeded winners were No. 9 Sam Stosur, No. 16 Dominika Cibulkova, No. 18 Jelena Jankovic, and No. 31 Alize Cornet. Jankovic recovered from 0-5 in the second to win in straights.
The rains make for a loaded Wednesday schedule at Roland Garros, with highlights including (3) Victoria Azarenka vs. Russian veteran Elena Vesnina, Gael “Force” Monfils vs. “The Importance of Being” Ernests Gulbis, (1) Serena Williams vs. French comer Caroline Garcia, (7) Petra Kvitova vs. France’s Aravane Rezai, (24) Benoit Paire vs. Marcos Baghdatis, (14) Milos Raonic vs. France’s Michael Llodra, Dutch upset-maker Igor Sijsling vs. (32) Tommy Robredo, Puerto Rican upset-maker Monica Puig vs. Madison Keys, and (10) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Bojana Jovanovski.
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