Round 1 of Roland Garros is well underway, already harbouring defiant battles and highlighting spots of rust on our not-so-well-oiled machines... err world-class tennis players. The warranted heartbreaks thus far certainly go to Ivo Karlovic who aced Lleyton Hewitt 55 times over a grueling 5-set match but was still unable to taste victory and the country of France which has seen 16 casualties despite a homecourt advantage.
Regardless, play continued through Day 2 and the spectators in Philippe-Chatrier were treated to a schedule of Safina, Nadal and Federer! As the crowd was still rolling in Safina ran through two bagel sets to advance into the second round. Rafa was up to begin defending the crown he's worn for 4 straight years. His opponent: Brasilian qualifier Marcos Daniel who seems to be his country's sole hopeful talent since Guga's retirement in 2001. After this performance, Brasil should be proud. While he could not knock out the heart favourite in Paris, Daniel surely pushed Nadal to close his first round match 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. He charged the net, took away Nadal's passing shots, patiently drew out errors during long rallies, broke Rafa three times and, most impressively, never allowed the champion to comfortably settle into the match. Unfortunately, at 30, it is unlikely that Marcos will make too far of a run at the majors but he will certainly be helpful in the future to players who do not appear in his half of the draw.
In fact, Nadal's most worthy competitor was probably quite pleased with Daniel forcing an expenditure of 2.5 hours early on while he finished off veteran Alberto Martin in about 90 minutes. Though the expected RG finalist got off to a mildly slow 0-2 start, he quickly broke back and went on a power cruise-control without looking back. Federer put on a very impressive show, playing the clay more like a hardcourt & even grass at times. Assuming he can keeping his repertoire of shots as varied as he did yesterday, Federer will have no worries floating past the rest of the herd.
Regardless, play continued through Day 2 and the spectators in Philippe-Chatrier were treated to a schedule of Safina, Nadal and Federer! As the crowd was still rolling in Safina ran through two bagel sets to advance into the second round. Rafa was up to begin defending the crown he's worn for 4 straight years. His opponent: Brasilian qualifier Marcos Daniel who seems to be his country's sole hopeful talent since Guga's retirement in 2001. After this performance, Brasil should be proud. While he could not knock out the heart favourite in Paris, Daniel surely pushed Nadal to close his first round match 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. He charged the net, took away Nadal's passing shots, patiently drew out errors during long rallies, broke Rafa three times and, most impressively, never allowed the champion to comfortably settle into the match. Unfortunately, at 30, it is unlikely that Marcos will make too far of a run at the majors but he will certainly be helpful in the future to players who do not appear in his half of the draw.
In fact, Nadal's most worthy competitor was probably quite pleased with Daniel forcing an expenditure of 2.5 hours early on while he finished off veteran Alberto Martin in about 90 minutes. Though the expected RG finalist got off to a mildly slow 0-2 start, he quickly broke back and went on a power cruise-control without looking back. Federer put on a very impressive show, playing the clay more like a hardcourt & even grass at times. Assuming he can keeping his repertoire of shots as varied as he did yesterday, Federer will have no worries floating past the rest of the herd.
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