On paper, Rafael Nadal did not have overly tough first-round opponent at the French Open. But “lucky loser” certainly does not mean “free pass” at Roland Garros.
Eight lucky losers got into the main draw and four advanced. None was more impressive (even though Marco Trungelliti certainly made more headlines) than Simone Bolelli, and Bolelli didn’t even win. Playing like he had a second lease on life, because he did, the veteran from Italy went for broke at every opportunity and quite often connected. He threw everything he had at Nadal throughout two hours and 57 minutes of play across two days, eventually succumbing 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9).
Rain delayed the contest on Monday evening with Bolelli 3-0 in the third set, after which Nadal erased the deficit to force a tiebreaker. The 10-time French Open also recovered from a 6-3 deficit in the ‘breaker, saving four set points in total before Bolelli fought off two match points. Finally, the world No. 129 netted a forehand at 8-9.
Highlights:
“He was a very aggressive player, and he was playing very strong,” Nadal said of Bolelli. “I didn’t know that he was going to play so aggressively. I understood that I really had to attack, and I had to have the proper mindset, be positive, and accept how things were unfolding. He was playing very well.
“There were few transition shots where I could manage to pick up my pace. I managed to do it, and that was the important thing today. He played well, playing with lot of risk–but having success with all of the risk that he took. For me, it was difficult to find 100 per cent, the rhythm, because I didn’t have so many points that I could take the advantage and hit three (or) four balls with the right position.”
Next up for the world No. 1 is Guido Pella, a straight-set winner over Joao Sousa.
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Dimi in real trouble now. Donaldson just won the third set to go up two sets to one.
I didn’t like they way Nadal played
It’s wishful thinking expecting Nadal to make life easy for himself if an opponent plays an effective aggressive game.
He’s just always going to take a step back and run left and right. Nevertheless, he still manages to win in straight most of the time (on clay)
Yeah Shireling!…Now i’m worried whether spending over 3 hrs in his 1st match will give an impact to his body going forward…And match against Shapo certainly will be another physical match for him too…Urgh!!
Everyone seems to be in trouble today; Djoko too was pushed by the young Spaniard even though he won in straight sets.
Dimi in real trouble now, down two sets to one; Sasha about to lose the third set, the test now is for Sasha to go the distance to win in five. Kei is also having trouble with Paire, going to lose the third set.
Goffin survives the first set abd well on his way to win the second set, good for him.
Upsets looming for the other seeded players.
Zverev some time back side “he is not next generation”. He is certainly not. Next generation players usually make breakthroughs at very young age.
Right, Zverev isn’t really one of the next-generation crowd anymore. He is the current generation and has to prove himself at the slams sooner rather than later. Today is a good oportunity.
Zverev has to win the next two set now! The real test came earlier than anticipated
Zverev is in real trouble now. He’s going to have to do it in five.
Dimi up a break in the fourth set. He had to do it in five, too.
Zverev got it together and is now up 4-0 in the fifth set.
Dimi still battling it out with Donaldson in the fifth set.
Zverev got it done. Dimi still in a tight battle with Donaldson.
Donaldson is cramping so bad he hits an underhand serve on game point…and it works as Dimitrov overhits the return. Dimi now serving to stay in it, although he does look a lot fitter.
Rafa spent less than 3 hours. That too over 2 days. He should be fine.
It looks like Thiem/Tsitsipas is going three sets.
Make that 4. Or 5, maybe. 🙂
I have only watched spasmodically today but from what I did see several of the seeded players had a tough day at the office. Dimitrov and Zverev were both taken to five sets.
Watching Thiem and Tsitsipas who has just taken the 2nd set. Incidentally Tsitsipas is actually the same age Rafa was when he won his first Slam!!
I like this Tsitsipas boy, he may be the one who will challenge Thiem on clay in future. I think he’s better on clay than the other surfaces, a bit like Thiem.
Sasha OTOH will be good on all surfaces and he may be the dominating one among these youngsters.
Thiem is losing it, he’s just hitting as hard as possible, whilst Tsitsipas could just run down every ball, not unlike young Rafa! The boy runs so fast all over the place!
Thiem not playing intelligent tennis, he should throw in some drop shots instead of just hitting hard from the baseline, since Tsitsipas is playing from so far behind the baseline.
Tsitsipas is so comfortable running behind the baseline, why not make him run forward instead?
We are on the wrong thread Lucky 🙁
Going over to thee match preview now,
Dont know where everybody is but it is academic ‘cos Eurosport have stopped showing the match and I can only get livescores. Have to wait for catch up tomorrow.
Rafa playing at SL court tomorrow, third match. Luckily so, as there’s no carry over match from today for that court so unless there’s rain delay again, Rafa should be able to get his match done within tomorrow.
Pouille/Norre match at PC court not finished today so has to continue tomorrow; unfortunate for those playing at PC tomorrow as their matches may be delayed, depending on how the Pouille match goes.
Littlefoot, Zverev is 21 and has won 3 masters. In this era who can say that? He would be in the next-Gen crowd except he’s currently leading the race to London! He’ll prove himself just fine. Listen to what Nadal said about him; there’s absolutely no reason he can’t start winning slams right now. He may win one this year.
Joe Smith AT 10:14 AM,
Rafa didn’t say that A.Zverev would win slams. He said that AZ would achieve “great results” at slams.
RAFAEL NADAL: “One thing, if he’s [A.Zverev] not playing well in Grand Slams during the next two years, you will — you can come back to me and tell me you know anything about tennis.
If happened that Sascha is not doing great results in the next year in Grand Slams, you can come back to me and say, You were wrong.”
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=140065