 Lining another flat forehand into the net, Serena Williams shoved the air in disgust, as if admonishing a dance partner for repeatedly stepping on her toes. The fifth-seeded American looked out of step and out of sorts, fighting both herself and an inspired Virginie Razzano. Williams would win neither battle.
The 111th-ranked Frenchwoman rallied from a 1-5 deficit in the second-set tiebreaker, rolled to a 5-0 lead in the third set, then fought off a late Serena surge, converting her eighth match point to seal a shocking 4-6, 7-6 (5) 6-3 upset that spanned three hours, three minutes and sent French fans into a frenzy.
It was, by far, Razzano's biggest Grand Slam win, and it was Serena's first opening-round loss at a major. The 2002 French Open champion was 46-0 in the first round of Slams and undefeated on clay this year, but never really found her range or rhythm in an erratic effort. Serena careened from tight, tentative shots that sometimes landed in the middle of the court to impulsive, overly-ambitious blasts that sailed beyond the baseline; it all added up to 47 unforced errors. One of the best closers of the Open era gagged near the finish line today and choked back tears after losing six straight points in the second-set tiebreaker.
Credit Razzano for her resilience in playing through apparent calf cramps that caused her to squeal in pain at times, and which elicited a point penalty for hindrance late in the third set. When Williams' backhand landed long on the Razzano's eighth match point, she finally had cause for screaming celebration.
It was a particularly poignant moment for the 29-year-old crowd favorite, whose fiancé and former coach, Stephane Vidal, died of a a brain tumor eight days before her first-round match at last year's French Open. Wearing a black ribbon on her shirt and pain etched on her face, Razzano faced what she called "a mission impossible" in a somber first-round loss. Today, she played with passion and poise in pulling off an improbable comeback.
This was an adventure of a match with wild momentum shifts. Signs of stress were clear as Serena lost her first two service games before rallying to take the 46-minute first set on a Razzano double fault.
Williams crunched a forehand winner to seize a seemingly commanding 5-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker—then she made a major mess of things. Serving at 5-2, Williams slammed a biting serve that a lunging Razzano blocked back. Williams, already mentally counting the point, did not play the return, assuming it would stray long. Instead, it landed on the line. At 5-3, Williams belted a backhand winner down the line that would have given her match point, but the linesman made a late call on the prior shot, prompting a replay, which Razzano won. By the time the red dust settled, Razzano reeled off six straight points and danced to a bathroom break at 7:59 p.m. Paris time with the match deadlocked. A dazed-looking Serena then completely disinegrated, as Razzano stormed out to a 5-0 lead.
Digging down to summon her competitive spirit, Williams found the line with a forehand return, broke for 2-5, then held at 15 for 3-5. The marathon, 23-minute, 12-deuce final game was a microcosm of the match, with spirited rallies and paralyzing nerves on display. On the fifth match point, Williams whipped a stunning backhand winner down the line that singed the sideline, prompting a collective groan from the fans. It seemed that shot might rouse her, but on this day Razzano would not be denied.
Razzano erupted in a wide smile when Williams' backhand sailed long on match point number eight; the woman who called the death of her fiance "permanent pain" created pure joy in her Paris return.
—Richard Pagliaro
 Seven matches for a seventh French Open title: It's the kind of numerical symmetry Rafael Nadal, with his penchant for order, can surely appreciate. He can tick the first one off his list after an almost casual victory over Simone Bolelli, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
"He's not a great tennis player, but he hits the ball like a great tennis player." That was Mats Wilander's somewhat circuitous assessment of Bolelli, now ranked 111th in the world. There were stretches when one could see what he meant, notably at the match's beginning and in the middle of the second set. Unfortunately, those stretches lasted only minutes at a time and did not manage to seriously slow down Nadal's march to victory.
They also happened to coincide with lapses in Nadal's concentration. The defending champion started the match slowly, making a rash of backhand errors in the first couple of games as Bolelli set out his stall with recklessly aggressive play. From the outset, it was clear that Bolelli would live and die by his success in running around his single-handed backhand to take the ball early and go for the clean forehand winner. Broken to 15 for 2-4 after four forehand errors, it was also clear that it would not be a winning tactic. Either Bolelli missed soundly, even on short balls with an open court, or Nadal took advantage of the space afforded by running around the backhand to smack his own forehand for a winner. We were seeing both frequently by the time Bolelli buried another forehand in the net to close a 35-minute opening set.
The Italian stuck to that strategy like grim death, however, and it's easy to see why: The alternative was to allow Nadal to pound his single-handed backhand until the ball got too high for him to handle. Bolelli had some slight success coming forward, but was equally often stung by Nadal's passing shots. By the time Nadal led the second set 4-0, it appeared Bolelli would be lucky to get a game.
Leading 30-0, however, a moment's inattention set in and Nadal double-faulted to give up a break. When Bolelli actually landed a couple of forehands inside the court, then held for 2-4 and reached 15-40 on Nadal's serve, there was a glimmer of hope for a real contest. Nadal quickly stubbed it out, however, pummeling Bolelli's backhand for an error, and on the next point coming in to net behind wide strokes for a delicious volley. After Bolelli's third break point came and went, Nadal broke for the set with a massive forehand winner and never looked in trouble again, breaking Bolelli twice in the third.
It was not the cleanest match that Nadal has ever played on Philippe Chatrier, but the six-time champion still barely broke stride as he trampled Bolelli into the dust. It's Denis Istomin who will be faced with the unenviable task of trying to stop Nadal in the next round.
—Hannah Wilks
 The procession of balls popped up at Maria Sharapova from her left, from her right, and even emerged from behind her shoulders. Sharapova faced each one with a smile and a rapid response from her right hand.
All that activity took place after the second seed obliterated Alexandra Cadantu, 6-0, 6-0, in a 48-minute mismatch on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Looking fit and playing fast, a focused Sharapova seemed to expend almost as much energy accommodating autograph seekers thrusting tennis balls in her face as she did dismantling the 75th-ranked Romanian.
With a blockbuster quarterfinal against Serena Williams possible, Sharapova came out belting the ball and imposing her game, causing some to surely think ahead. In a matter of minutes, she built a 4-0 lead, permitting just three points in the process.
There is a time and place for everything, and this first-rounder against a three-time Grand Slam champion on a stadium court was not the time or place for Cadantu to make her French Open main-draw debut. Sharapova shut out Cadantu both on the scoreboard and in the winners department, delivering 18 winners, 18 more than her opponent hit. She won 51 points and lost just 18.
An overpowering Sharapova repeatedly stepped inside the baseline to blast shots into the corners, sending Cadantu on a series of side-to-side sprints that drained her strength and depleted her desire. The 22-year-old baseliner from Bucharest entered this match with a hardly intimidating 2-7 WTA clay-court record on the season, and from the opening game it was apparent she lacked the weight of shot and depth to pose any problems for her stronger adversary.
The two-time French Open semifinalist played with controlled aggression, cracking cross-court drives that opened the court and displaced Cadantu further and further behind the baseline. The ruthless former No. 1 converted six of nine break point chances and won 25 of the 33 points played on her overmatched opponent's serve. Sharapova's footwork and accuracy were both sharp throughout the lopsided match; maintaining concentration could have been a challenge for some.
It was Sharapova's ninth consecutive French Open first-round win and marked the first time in 43 career matches in Paris that she scored a shutout. Playing each shot with a purpose, Sharapova raised her record to 23-3 in her last 26 matches, including a 12-1 mark on clay, with her lone loss on dirt coming to Serena.
Both women must take care of business to reach that highly-anticipated quarterfinal. Next up for Sharapova is a second-round meeting with 84th-ranked Ayumi Morita, who has two French Open wins to her credit.
—Richard Pagliaro
 Ryan Harrison's creative mix of shots brought him to the brink of a two-set lead. But a moment of indecision—and a sustained dose of resistance from an edgy Gilles Simon—proved toxic to Harrison's upset bid. Outplayed at the outset, a stubborn Simon dug in and fought off two set points in the second set to rally for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 victory.
The 56th-ranked American played ambitious tennis, but may spend a sleepless night or two ruing his inability to close out a second set that would have posed a very steep comeback climb for Simon.
The 12th-ranked Frenchman has the skinny frame and endless stamina of a bicycle messenger, but was playing catch-up and shrieking at himself in angst after dumping a double fault off the tape to hand Harrison a break and a 5-3 first-set lead. The counter-punching Simon, who served just 43 percent in the opener, spent much of the set waiting for something happen, while Harrison made it happen by taking the offensive on pivotal points. Harrison's backhand slice staggered short in the court, coaxing an error as the American broke for a 5-4 second-set lead.
A stinging serve down the middle then gave Harrison double set point. Simon erased the first with a smash. On the second, Harrison had a look at a backhand pass, but appeared momentarily mixed up on whether to loop up a lob or drive the ball down the line. He did neither, managing an indecisive poke that failed to clear the net. Whacking a wild backhand down the line to drop serve, Harrison took out his frustration on his racquet, flipping the stick behind him in disgust at an opportunity lost. The break revived Simon and roused the crowd, which jeered Harrison after he was hit with a racquet abuse warning from chair umpire Enric Molina. The American sparred over the call on the ensuing changeover.
“[The racquet was] not close to anybody,” Harrison told Molina. “I don’t give a sh**, that’s not racquet abuse.”
Still stewing, Harrison could not find a first serve, committing three unforced errors to face double set point before spinning a second serve long to squander a 49-minute second set that was so firmly in his reach moments earlier.
Harrison broke to open the third, but Simon won a 17-shot rally to break back for 2-all. The seventh game swung the set in Simon's favor as he withstood three break points, holding firm for a 4-3 advantage. Leaning into a backhand strike crosscourt to earn triple set point, Simon snatched the 44-minute third set when Harrison sent a weary slice into the net.
On a day in which consistency eluded Simon, his survival skills kicked in and carried him. He smoothed out the rough edges as the match progressed, elevated his level on key points, and effectively answered Harrison’s short slices and angled drop shots with counter-droppers of his own, raising his Roland Garros record to 7-6 and leaving the talented Harrison with another Grand Slam growing pain.
—Richard Pagliaro
 "Six more matches to go before Djokovic matches Laver," John McEnroe intoned on Tennis Channel after Novak Djokovic dispatched of Potito Starace in straight sets in the first round of the French Open, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-1. McEnroe was referring to holding all four Grand Slam titles, a feat Laver accomplished for the second time (in a calendar year, in his case) in 1969. But although Djokovic won his first-round match in straights for the sixth straight Slam, he looked anything but dominant through the first set-and-a-half against 30-year-old Starace, whose ranking has dropped to No. 97.
Breaking out his new Uniqlo clothing, Djokovic came out firing against Starace, but soon found the Italian very much up for the challenge. Employing an effective inside-out forehand that had Djokovic scrambling into his backhand corner, followed by delicate drop shots, Starace forced a first-set tiebreaker and even held a mini-break lead after the No. 1's first forehand sailed long. Djokovic had trouble with his forehand wing, particularly in the first set, where committed 11 of his 19 unforced errors for the match. Starace had just 10 unforced errors in the first set.
But the Djokovic first serve was his get-out-of-jail card for the entire match; he struck six aces on the clay and won 82 percent of his first-serve points. He quickly took the seven out of the next nine points in the tiebreaker to bag the first set.
Starace, who walks around with a weary, lethargic air, might've been expected to go away quickly in the next set, but he won a marathon game on serve to go up 2-1. The veteran was digging out balls hit deep and wide to his forehand with a slice squash shot, and running the court with great effort. Often, he used a ploy of Djokovic's—hitting a soft dropper that, even when reached, gave the drop-shotter an advantageous short-court reply. Djokovic won only 16 out of 25 forays to the net in the match.
But the top seed's greatest asset besides his seamless game is his ability to wear down opponents and rarely give them an opening to climb back into a match. Djokovic broke Starace on two of his next three service games and was soon rolling with a two-set lead. In the last set, Djokovic finally had Starace subdued, and he finished the match with a second serve ace. Next up for the Serb is 25-year-old, No. 99th-ranked Slovakian Blaz Kavcic, with either the No. 114th-ranked Michael Berrer or the No. 282nd-ranked Nicolas Devilder to follow. Good day, and good early draw.
—Dan Markowitz
 When we last left Li Na, she was standing in a steady drizzle watching the title at the Rome Premier event slip through her fingers and right into the greedy little digits of Maria Sharapova. You recall, Li led by 6-4, 4-0 before the astonishing comeback that left Sharapova holding the trophy.
The result was a mixed blessing for Li on the eve of the French Open, where she is defending champion. On the positive side, she had gone as deep as possible without winning. On the down side, the letdown that enabled her to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory was ominous, when you contemplated the combination of her penchant for losing the plot and the pressure she would be under as the titleholder in Paris.
Things only got more grim when Li drew the dangerous, aggressive Sorana Cirstea of Romania as her first round-opponent.
Li fans needn't have worried—the first Asian Grand Slam singles champion of either sex ripped through Cirstea today, 6-2, 6-1, on Court Philippe Chatrier with a beautifully balanced show of firepower off both wings, her cross-court forehand (surprisingly) no less devastating than her down-the-line backhand. It may have been the best performance by Li since, well, since she won here last year.
Li is the WTA No. 7, but she's in danger of falling out of the Top 10 if she doesn't make it as far as the third round in Paris. She played today with the kind of urgency demanded by that uncomfortable fact.
Cirstea is a mercurial No. 43, and the best antidote to the power she can muster and the risks she's willing to take is excellent movement and anticipation. Li had both today, amply demonstrating why it's such a pleasure to watch her on one of her good days. With no superflous elements or conspicuously moving parts, her game is nothing less than elegant.
Li opened the match with a break, and sliced through her own first service game. By the time Li earned her next break, with a cross-court forehand blast that forced a forehand error in the third game, it was clear that she was going to meet Cirstea's apparent game plan head-on. Li would embrace the repeated challenges to her forehand and swing freely and with intent to harm. She hit deep and she hit true.
In the blink of an eye, it was 4-0.
Cirstea managed to hold the following game, firing an ace at deuce and teasing out a forehand service return error. Li fell behind 15-40 in the next game, and it seemed that things might get a bit more interesting for Cirstea's backers, but Li dispatched the first break point with a service winner to Cirstea's backhand, and reached deuce via forehand error. A Li backhand winner followed by a backhand error by Cirstea finished off the comeback—and, for all intents and purposes, Cirstea.
Although Cirstea held with a four-point game for 2-5, this was not a day on which Li's resolve was in question. In the next game, she bolted out to 40-o on the strength of two forehand winners and a forehand error by Cristea, and polished off her first set point with a service winner to the forehand.
In the second set, Cirstea won the first point of the first game, but comprehensively collapsed shortly thereafter, producing a game-ending double fault to put Li a break up to start things off. But she wasn't able to run away with it just yet. Li fell behind 15-40 in the next game. She wiped away the first break point with a cross-court forehand winner.
Credit Li for rolling out one of those shots that can unobtrusively alter or maintain the course of a match on that second break point. She hit a big, risky kicker out wide near the line. All Cirstea could do was go fishing for it, and it proved to be one that got away. From deuce, a service-return error and a down-the-line backhand that forced a Cirstea error left Li up 2-0.
Cirstea fell behind 15-40 in the next game on the strength of three blazing winners by Li. A pair of service winners granted Cirstea a stay, but after two deuces, Li hit an aggressive, down-the-line backhand that forced an error, and followed up with a service return that was too hot for Cirstea to handle. With the insurance break in hand at 3-0, Li had clear sailing the rest of the way.
—Pete Bodo
 It wasn't exactly a Monday morning rush hour in Paris, but Roger Federer started his work week chasing a deep drive with the urgency of a man hustling to meet a major deadline. Racing behind the baseline, Federer flicked a full-stretch running forehand squash shot deep into the court, slid back into balance without missing a beat, then flattened out a forehand winner.
On a day in which Federer didn't fully find his comfort zone, he kept his footing, creating a stress-free passage into the second round with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Tobias Kamke.
The third seed scored his 233rd career major victory to equal Jimmy Connors' record for most Grand Slam match wins in the Open era. The Swiss master has racked up records with the regularity John McEnroe once accrued code violations, but was surprised by the milestone.
"Honestly, I didn't even know about the number," Federer told ESPN's Brad Gilbert. "Weird with all the press I do no one even mentioned it. Jimmy played years and years so to do that number at 30 years old is amazing."
Playing his 50th consecutive major, Federer did not allow small stumbling blocks—facing an opponent who can slap winners or spray errors with random abandon, navigating breezy conditions on the smaller Suzanne Lenglen stadium court, struggling to find his range at the outset, and his inability to create immediate closure near the finish—to bubble up into bigger issues. The 78th-ranked German broke back for 2-all in the first set before Federer ran off four consecutive games, sealing the set with a forehand drop shot winner.
Though he showed bursts of his familiar snazzy shotmaking, Federer wasn't exactly razor sharp. In the second set, he shanked a backhand so badly the ball soared straight up in the air, nearly landing on his own baseline as Kamke held for 2-1. Kamke made little concession to clay, opting to to go for low-percentage drives down the line when stretched, rather than hitting higher and deeper to try to recover position in rallies. He got help from Federer, who was too casual in slapping a low smash into top of the tape. Kamke took immediate advantage, crushing a forehand return winner down the line to break for 4-2.
Sometimes, the German’s ambition exceeded his accuracy. Late in the second set, he netted a backhand to hand Federer break point. Federer attacked behind a forehand, and Kamke’s running forehand down the line strayed wide, giving the Swiss the break back; he employed a similar pattern to break again for 6-5. Federer's willingness to step into the court—he won 20 of 29 net approaches—was key, as he closed the second set with a forehand winner down the line.
Building a 5-1 third-set lead, Federer stumbled slightly near the finish. Kamke saved two match points for 2-5, then saved a third and hoisted a lob to break for 3-5. Federer finally sealed the deal on his sixth match point, raising his record to 49-4 since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2011 U.S. Open semifinal.
—Richard Pagliaro
 Victoria Azarenka had seen this before, from both players' perspectives. In March, at Indian Wells, the world No. 1 found herself in a third set after leading by a set and 4-0; in that same, crazy match, she rallied from a double-break deficit and eventually pulled out the victory.
But that was against Mona Barthel, the young German already rising her way up the ranks. Today's match, which saw Azarenka rally from a set and 4-0 down to win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2, came against 32-year-old Alberta Brianti, she of the No. 105 world ranking and 10-14 singles record. Relief? Azarenka had it in spades when her first-round scare was over.
The top seed had unforced errors in spades, too. Twenty-seven in the first set, which at one point Azarenka led 2-0. But she dropped the next four games in a set no one wanted to win until Brianti's fourth set point, when an Azarenka backhand sailed long in an extended tiebreaker.
Azarenka's play would only deteriorate further—17 unforced errors later, she found herself down 4-0 in the second and staring an embarassing round-one exit—and countless questions about her effort—in the face.
The term "unforced error" can be misleading, though, as Brianti's excellent early play frustrated Azarenka and planted the seed for many of her misses. The Italian displayed a natural clay-court game from the onset, moving better than Azarenka and tormenting her with her slice backhand. The shot sat on the clay but moved through it; it's a tough shot to handle on its own, but it also deprived Azarenka of the pace she craves. Vika's backhand bombs were tougher to uncoil against Brianti, who earned games both with her well-executed strategy—which included some eye-popping winners as well, from both sides—and via errors from her opponent.
But the turning points of the match, which commentator Chris Evert pointed out essentially as they happened, occurred when Brianti failed to secure a 5-0, one-would-think-insurmountable lead. Still reeling and playing perhaps her worst tennis of the day, Azarenka faced a second serve down break point—after hitting a few double faults already, just landing the serve in was no sure thing. Instead, she grazed the line for an ace. A well-placed drop shot saved another, and Azarenka stopped the bleeding to hold for 4-1.
I didn't think about it much at the time, but in what seemed like only minutes later, Azarenka had collected five more games for the set, and the comeback/collapse was on. A Brianti break to open the third was a suprise, but a greater shock would have been if she actually managed to right herself after squandering so large a lead. That never happened, and despite a very concerning performance, Azarenka advanced.
—Ed McGrogan
 Some players wear their heart on their sleeve. Venus Williams' heart was whizzing around the back of her neck like a runaway hoola hoop seven games into her match with Paula Ormaechea.
The heart-shaped pendant Williams wears on a chain was swirling as she careened around the court, chasing shots from the 120th-ranked Argentine upstart. But while Williams' heart may have been racing, her head was clear. Playing with a placid expression, Williams ravaged Ormaechea's second serve in winning the final three games to close an entertaining 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Despite a cluster of clouds that dimmed the late-afternoon sun, Ormaechea, who has succeeded Gisela Dulko as Argentina's top-ranked woman, came out wearing Oakley sunglasses and smacking eye-opening groundstrokes in the opening set. The Buenos Aires-baseliner stood toe-to-toe with Williams and often took charge in early exchanges.
Running around her backhand, Ormaechea struck a forehand return winner up the line that a flailing Williams could not control to break for 2-1. Ormaechea's strokes are her strength—she hits bold strikes with spin and opened the court with crisp combinations, leaning into a forehand to break again for 5-2 before closing the opening set in her main-draw debut.
The pace and depth of the 5'7" Argentine's shots seemed to take Williams by surprise, but she recalibrated and came out recharged in the second set. Serving with more authority, taking the first strike in rallies, and playing her cross-court forehand with greater depth—rather than trying to pull the trigger prematurely down the line—Williams roared back, patiently pounding Ormaechea into submission to take a 5-0 second-set lead. Venus' legs and her defensive skills are two of her most underrated assets, and she used both to extend rallies with the 19-year-old, playing just her third major match. In a declarative serving performance, Venus won 16 of 19 points played on her serve in the second set to level the match.
There's a lot to like about Ormaechea—she's quick around the court, fearlessly attacks her ground strokes, can change direction off both wings, and plays with plenty of positive emotion, fist-pumping frequently. She also didn't wilt after Williams pulverized yet another down-the-line return winner to break for a 3-2 lead in the decider. Ormaechea was two steps off the doubles alley when she lashed a running forehand winner down the line to break right back for 3-all.
That shot may have rattled even some veterans, but Williams barely blinked beneath her black visor. She smacked successive backhand return winners down the line and followed with an inside-out forehand return winner to break, again, for 4-3. Ormaechea did not win a point on her second serve in the final set.
Using a slick backhand swing volley to consolidate for 5-3, Venus slid into a forehand return that slipped over the net to seal the win, setting up a possible second-round blockbuster with third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
—Richard Pagliaro
 It's always interesting to see how a relatively low-ranked player will respond when he's in a position to upset a better one, especially if the latter happens to be a big name. There's a point where the forehands and backhands don't have much to do with it, but nerves and reputations do.
In that regard, Nicolas Mahut acquitted himself decently if not brilliantly on Court Suzanne Lenglen, where he had his French countrymen chanting "Nico, Nico, Nico" by the end of his 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Andy Roddick.
Mahut's only major lapse came in the third set, when he allowed Roddick to slip the noose and record just his second break of the match—one that would end up costing Mahut the set. But if it looked for a while like Mahut's wheels might fall off, Roddick's game mysteriously and fatally declined not long thereafter, and he'll leave Europe without having won a single match this spring.
In some ways this match could be described as the blind leading the blind. We know all too well what kind of trouble Roddick has had on the red clay of Roland Garros for most of his career. Compound that with his age (29) and plummeting ranking (he's presently No. 33) and you can see why he might want to fast forward through this portion of the year.
But No. 89 Mahut is no wizard of clay, either, developmental background and lineage notwithstanding. He's most famous for losing the 70-68 Wimbledon match to John Isner, and you still have to wonder how Mahut managed to hold serve long enough to slide into the history books so swiftly and firmly. We saw today that he's a man in whom flashes of brilliance are freely mixed with streaks of inconsistency, kind of like vanilla-fudge ice cream. His career record on clay, the surface that puts a premium on consistency, was a dismal 6-20 before today's match. And he'd won exactly one match in the 10 previous trips he made to Roland Garros (beating No. 142 Mischa Zverev in 2010).
But let's be fair: Mahut's "big game" style, with the emphasis it puts on serving and volleying, isn't ideal for the French Open—except when it's really working. And on days when it is, like much of today, it can be a real pleasure to watch; Mahut is a man who likes to play opportunistically and aggressively. Truth be told, Roddick played pretty well in the first set—he made 11 winners to just five unforced errors and won 77 percent of his first-serve points—but he failed to convert any of five break points he created, while Mahut made good on the single break point that came his way.
Mahut's game—and nerve—held up in the second set, and he broke Roddick again to take a 4-3 lead. It was a pretty comprehensive lapse by Roddick—four straight points lost, the first three on Roddick errors and the fourth on a Mahut forehand down-the-line winner. Just as important, for our theme, Mahut played well from 30-all in the next game, using a forehand drop shot and a booming service winner to consolidate the break. He broke Roddick again in the very next game to take the set.
While Mahut was taking care of business, Roddick was yielding to all the tendencies that have made his life difficult lately. He was playing from well back in the court, reluctant to force the action, gun-shy of the down-the-line backhand that is one of the few dangerous plays he can (and must) make, given the precise way opponents try to break him down. It may sound a bit abstract, but one of Roddick's greatest problems these days is the simple failure to look and play as if he feels positive.
Roddick did not produce a backhand winner until the fourth game of the third set, which he held to stay even at 2-2. The pressure on Mahut to close it out was growing, and it was at that point he blinked. His forehand deserted him, his feet became glued to the court. Roddick stepped up to challenge him and Mahaut caved, broken at love via a forehand volley error. Roddick held to go up 4-2, and patiently went on to serve out the set. He seemed to be stirring to life.
That impression was reinforced when Roddick broke Mahut in the first game of the fourth set. But from 30-all in the next game, Roddick's concentration swiftly slid downhill. A backhand error and very weak forehand response to a service return gave Mahut the break back; the crowd favorite then held at love, the last two points aces. And in no time, he had Roddick down 15-40 in the next game. An inside-out forehand winner put Mahut up 3-1, and any hope that Roddick would force Mahut to step up and win it began to fade.
Roddick's last best chance was a 2-4; could Mahut keep his jumpy nerves and not-always-reliable concentration in check? The Frenchman served up another love game, closing it yet again with an ace for 5-2. Mahut was spared having to hold serve to win the match when he broke Roddick for the seventh time on the day to end it.
—Pete Bodo
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