Yesterday was another special day in Paris and not exactly in the good sense of the word.
The German Alexander Zverev met the Japanese Kisikori, who's a good player but compared to Zverev, he's nowhere near the German's level. He tried to do his best in the first set and was able to win some games, but nothing spectacular happened. The next two sets were just plain boring. It was a nice performance on his behalf and maybe the last one at this level. Time will tell.
Forkina had an interesting match with Delbonis. He needed 5 sets to win as Delbonis was not easy to defeat. At the end of the day, the win that counts, thee way does not.
Garin vs Medvedev. I had high hopes regarding this match, even though the level of the two players are very different. Garin is a very talented player, who has achieved a lot this year, but had some tough matches and Medvedev is one of the best, so it's understandable Garin had less chance against him. Unfortunately this is not the outcome I was looking for, I was hoping Garing can win, especially because Medvedev hates clay. Looks like the Russian finally was able to understand that his tantrums are not bringing him any advantages, got himself together and won. Maybe next time Garing will have more chance.
Tsitsipas vs Carreno Busta, another great match, that unfortunately had to finish with one of my favorite winning and the other losing as there could be only one winner. Of these two I obviously preferred the Greek to win as he has a job to do and Busta, no matter how much I appreciate him, can't win against Zverev, Medvedev, Djokovic or Nadal. This is the end of the road for him and I'm really happy he got this far. When you have the cream of tennis present, it's difficult to get into the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas had a wonderful evolution on the other hand. I haven't seen him as nervous as in the previous game with Isner. He was always in control and insecurity or frustration was not visible on his face.
The first surprise of the day came from the ladies. Serena Williams had her dreams shattered once again. She was gunning for another Grand Slam title as he needs that in her attempt to break the previous record, but somehow as time passes, it gets far and far away from her. I'm not sure how much she believed she can win at Roland Garros, but she was seriously hurt,when she lost the match against Elena Rybakina. Ribakina was excellent, you could not see her emotions on her face and insecurity was unknown to her. She fully deserved the victory, no doubt about that. I was expecting Serena to lose, just didn't know how far she can get. Looks like not far at all.
The other surprise, this time a painful one came from Federer. The Swiss had a good evolution so fa, he won the last match against the German Koepfer and the day after the match he announced his withdrawal. I was surprised, can't deny it but I still respect his decision and i think it was the smartest thing to do.
The Swiss had two knee surgeries last year and missed most of the season this year. It's miracle he got this far. As you can see from the result of the match, it was a difficult one, three sets ended in tie-break and the last one wasn't easy either. He knew very well he can hardly recover from a tough match like that and going forward would have meant risking an injury. After consulting with his team they came to the conclusion that it's best to withdraw and I respect that. This is what a smart player does.
Berettini got off easy, he got a free day to recover and relax, concentrate on the next match.
Today, half of the matches are already over at the time of writing. Schwartzman had a hell of a match with Struff, he's one head taller than the Argentinian, but that advantage did not serve him today as he lost anyway. Diego Schwartzman is a huge surprise as I didn't believe he could get so far. He is a talented player but this is a Grand Slam tournament with the best players, a big step for him.
Today this was the match I was really looking for. I knew it will be a tough one, in which Djokovic will be put to work for the victory and that's what happened. The first two sets were pure fireworks. It took 2 hours to get to the third set and the disappointment on Djokovic's face was visible. He finally found someone of his level. He knew that before the match as the two use to train together, so it wasn't a surprise.
Lorenzo Musetti was playing like a machine in the first two set and it looked like he's not going to let Djokovic win. Then something happened to him, which was not visible with the naked eye, but the results peak for themselves. It was like he was a totally different player. He lost the next two sets with a shameful result, to find out in the last set that he has an injury. The outcome was a walkover at the end, Musetti could not finish the match, which is a shame, really. I just hope it's nothing serious and he can recover to be able to play at Wimbledon.
For me, this was the best match of the tournament so far, if I'm not counting the last three sets.
At the time of writing, Sinner is still playing against Nadal. Unfortunately things are not looking good for the young Sinner. He's an exceptional player, but I think he still needs time and experience to be able to win against top level players. He's going to get there in the upcoming years, I truly believe that.
Tomorrow Alexander Zverev is going to play against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and I think we won't have any surprises there. Zverev is going to win.
Stefanos Tsitsipas on the other hand will not have such an easy job with the Russian Daniil Medvedev. As much as i love the Greek, I'm not a 100% sure can win tomorrow. The only thing that can change things is that Medvedev hates clay and Tsitsipas is do good on clay. I truly hope the outcome will be what I want.
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