The French Open gets underway on Sunday and will feature Roger Federer on the first day of action. Federer is facing Alejandro Falla, while Ivo Karlovic is going up against Marcos Baghdatis.
(LL) Alejandro Falla vs. (2) Roger Federer
Federer and Falla will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when they collide in round one of the French Open on Sunday. The head-to-head series stands at a perfect 7-0 in Federer’s favor, including 2-0 on clay. Both of their previous encounters on the slow stuff have come at Roland Garros; the Swiss prevailed 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in 2006 and 2010. Since losing his first 11 sets against Federer, Falla has pushed his heavily-favored opponent the distance in two of their last three matches and the other was 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in last year’s Halle final. Their most memorable meeting came five years ago at Wimbledon, where Federer survived 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-0 during first-round action.
Although Falla is two years younger at 31, he is the one who seems to be slowing down. The Colombian registers at No. 111 in the world with a modest record of 5-6 at the ATP level this season. Falla successfully qualified for recent Masters 1000 events in Miami and Madrid but failed in his bid to get into the Rome main draw. Federer is in fine form with a 25-5 record for his 2015 campaign that has him at second in the rankings. The 17-time Grand Slam champion triumphed earlier this month in Istanbul and he is coming off a runner-up showing in Rome. This will be far more routine than their three most recent tilts and Falla, who got in as a lucky loser, can expect to be put away in swift fashion.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(25) Ivo Karlovic vs. Marcos Baghdatis
Karlovic and Baghdatis will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers on Sunday. Baghdatis leads the head-to-head series 2-1 and he has won both of their previous meetings that have been played to completion. The Cypriot got the job done 6-4, 6-4 seven years ago in Marseille and 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) earlier this season in Zagreb (both indoors). They also clashed at the 2008 Metz event, where Baghdatis retired while leading by a set.
Neither man has played much on clay this year; in fact, the two veterans own identical 1-2 records on the surface. Karlovic last played in Madrid, where he went down easily to Richard Gasquet in the first round. Baghdatis fell in the Bucharest second round and lost his Nice opener this week to eventual finalist Thomaz Bellucci in three sets. Both players have struggled mightily at French Open, so this is a tough one to call. A slight edge may go to Karlovic thanks to his ability to win an extraordinary number of free points on serve.
Pick: Karlovic in 4
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Federer in 3 and Karlovic in 5
Play has started at French open
Falla has played federer tough in a few matches…
Almost dumped him out in Wimby first round in 2010
But this is 2015
Roger is in pink shorts!
anyone with a streaming link?
http://www.hahasport.com/c-4.html
Federer has already hit some home runs.
Falla holds again
Louisa Chirico played well today against Makarova.
Roger looks like he is wearing a radio-active watermelon for shorts.
Roger’s shorts are an abomination!! this for someone who gets dressed by Anna Wintour of Vogue when he comes to Wimby …!
rofl
RT @The_Changeover: “Please note: Roger Federer has dressed as some kind of confection for RG15. Purple shirt, bright pink shorts. It’s…well, it’s clothing.”
Nothing worth watching at French open today.
Well, they have Federer. Crowd puller extra-ordinaire…………
Karlovic 2 sets down now.
Falla calls for a medical timeout. These things becoming a bit too frequent these days.
Dona Vekic vs Caroline Garcia now
a home run by Garcia and Vekic holds
Gulbis bs Sisjling ( dont know if I spelled it right) Gulbis has a break
Gulbis 5-3
Set to Gulbis
Rafa is not playing until Wednesday, along with Djokovic.
Are you sure about that, @nadline10? @hawkeye63 says Rafa is on Day 3 on the other thread, that would be Tuesday. Wednesday would be Day 4, seems a bit far off, even for the French.
^^^I meant Tuesday not Wednesday.
Thanks.
http://twitter.com/scambers73/status/602471027701067776
Crybaby is not happy.
#MirkasRight
Stan up to his neck in merde again….plus ca change…..
Arrogant Mom and her husband deserve each other
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9kowCICQAAT1jw.png
(“Pleure bébé” = “crybaby” in French )
augusta08 says:
May 16, 2015 at 6:13 pm
I don’t care what YOU said.
===================================
You don’t say.
#LiesLiesAndMoreBotLies
May 24, 2015 at 2:53 pm,
#LiesLiesAndMoreBotLies
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It’s a great self-description! LOL
http://twitter.com/PseudoFed/status/602466077499621376
@PseudoFed 1h1 hour ago
Roland @rolandgarros there’s really little point in giving Me a great draw if you then let any Tom, Richard and Harry on court #security
https://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/602464500701335552
Mostly in his quarter no less.
#MerciMrRolands
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFxiRVCVIAECRna.jpg
@rolandgarros
“It’s nice to see that I’m not the only person over 30 [y.o.] still playing,” said @rogerfederer about the draw.
10:51 AM – 24 May 2015
Mostly in his quarter no less.
#MerciMrRolands
Donna Vekic vs Carolina Garcia and now poor Donna not only has to face Garcia but the French crowd is also against her.
and Donna breaks again she will now serve for the match.
Donna Vekic beats Caroline Garcia + French crowd
Gulbis beats Sijsling
Gulbis won a match?
Gulbis won and Now Steve Johnson takes out 26th seed Garcia Lopez
Great win for Stevie.
Amazing. Was down a break in the 5th.
The tennis channel did switch to Johnson’s match. At least I got to see the latter part of it. I thought Johnson was done for sure when he was down a break in the fifth. Well done to him for getting this win!