Today was a cooler day than other two days. Play was suspended for two hours due to a rain delay. Most of the matches were completed, but the Clement/Tursunov and Santoro/Rochus matches were not completed due to lack of light and will finish tomorrow. The winners of both of these matches will play each other, so there will be no rest advantage.
Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Tommy Robredo advanced in straight-forward fashion. Djokovic only played two sets after Nicolas Lapentti had to pull out after spraining his left ankle. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced but dropped a set in a tricolor battle with compatriot Julien Benneteau.
James Blake was the only top-seeded casualty of the day. This was no surprise since he has been struggling, in general, of late. He is also part of the latest incarnation of no-clay-playing Americans. The deadly combination resulted in a first-round boot out of Roland Garros this year.
The surprise of the day was Juan Carlos Ferrero’s win over Ivan Ljubicic. Ljubicic had been playing well over the last couple of weeks, and Ferrero has been struggling for years with injury and lack of play. The former French Open champ and current world no. 103 upset Ljubicic 2-6 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3 after three hours and 17 minutes of play.
Ferrero will meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round. Kohlschreiber leads their head-to-head matchup 2-1. His wins come courtesy of the hardcourts of Auckland for the last two-consecutive years. Ferrero’s victory came at Roland Garros three years ago.
(Images: FFT)
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