Tue, May 25, 2010 page20

• Federer puts on a red-hot display in Paris

  • REUTERS
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Roger Federer did little to dampen the soaring temperatures at the French Open with a red-hot display of shot-making that brought the year’s second Grand Slam bursting into life yesterday.

  After Sunday’s low-key start, Federer showed he was not going to let go of the title he battled so hard for 12 months ago without a fight as he destroyed Australian challenger Peter Luczak 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in a match which at times resembled an exhibition on a sultry Court Philippe Chatrier.

  Women’s third seed Caroline Wozniacki was another to make smooth progress on a day when the crowds poured into Roland Garros and the mercury nudged 30ºC.

  

  China’s Li Na returns to Kristina Mladenovic of France during their French Open first-round women’s singles match at Roland Garros in Paris yesterday.

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  While the organizers have made the tennis world wait for the bow of Rafa Nadal and Justine Henin until today, Federer asserted his claim to top billing with a charge interrupted only when a spectator was overcome by the Parisian heat.

  Federer treated the crowd to every shot in his arsenal — stunning backhand cross-courts, punishing angles and one mocking drop-shot to snuff out one of the match’s longer rallies which had the crowd on its feet and the Swiss pointing to the cloudless sky in enjoyment.

  Wozniacki, the runner-up at the US Open and astonishingly the only teenager in the women’s top 25, battered her way past Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0, 6-3 in little over an hour, dispelling any worries about a niggling ankle injury.

  One player for whom defeat was a little tough to take was Michael Yani of the US.

  Aged 29 and having never won a Grand Slam match in his career, he went to bed last night tied at 8-8 in the decider in his opening-round match with Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.

  He finally went down 12-10 in the fifth set in a match that lasted four minutes short of five hours.

  On Sunday, a sultry Venus Williams raised the on-court temperature, while French favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga almost got caught cold in the men’s singles.

  Williams, wearing a black and red frilly outfit that was more nightdress than tennis attire, jump-started the women’s draw with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of wily Patty Schnyder of Switzerland — her tennis as eye-catching as her choice of clothing.

  Tsonga, France’s highest-ranked male player and the eighth seed, nearly ruined an idyllic day for the home fans when he was pushed to the brink by little known German Daniel Brands, before emerging victorious in five sets.

  The French Open’s Sunday start is unique among the Grand Slams, but a lightweight Day 1 schedule with no Federer or Nadal in the mix had the feel of a light entree. There was plenty on the menu, but those opting for an extra glass of wine would have missed French wild-card Laurent Recouderc’s predictable demolition by last year’s men’s runner-up, Robin Soderling.

  The Swede’s brutal forehand was far too hot for the 25-year-old journeyman, who lost the first nine games before eeking a modicum of self-respect in a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 loss.

  Soderling, the fifth seed, walloped 46 winners, many of them threatening to wreak havoc with the beautifully-arranged geraniums lining the court.

  There was better news for French hopes in the match that followed, when Aravane Rezai, a close second to Venus in the fashion stakes with a gold-flanked dress, crushed Canada’s Heidi El Tabakh 6-1, 6-1 to underline her credentials.

  Fifteenth seed Rezai, who learned to play tennis on ill-lit park courts in Saint-Etienne under the glare of the headlights of her father’s van, beat Venus to win the Madrid title recently and is on course to meet the American in the fourth round.

  Tsonga’s hopes of becoming France’s first men’s French Open champion since Yannick Noah in 1983 looked an illusion as he labored against the 89th-ranked Brands.

  After dropping the first set, Tsonga seemed to have the match in his pocket when he won the next two, but a poor fourth-set tiebreak took it to a decider.

  After dropping serve early on, he hit back and with the home crowd roaring him on in the evening sunshine he survived to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5.

  A few seeds are already packing their bags though, most notably Victoria Azarenka, the women’s 10th seed from Belarus, who crumbled against Argentina’s Gisela Dulko, winning just three games.

  In the men’s draw, Latvian dark horse Ernests Gulbis, the 23rd seed, damaged a hamstring while doing the splits against Frenchman Julien Benneteau and retired at two sets down.

  There were no such worries for Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who beat Brazil’s Ricardo Mello 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    China preparing to invade Taiwan: deputy foreign minister

  • 2

    FDA approves shrimp imports from ally Belize

  • 3

    Jakarta puppet ban threatens city’s buskers

  • 4

    Taiwan expects final US tariff rate soon: official

  • 5

    MRT extension linking New Taipei and Taoyuan set to start in 2026