Roland Garros 2009 - French Open Tennis Tournament

Sara Errani ITA - Ana Ivanovic SRB (8): 6-7 3-6
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER - Amelie Mauresmo FRA (16): 6-4 6-3
Vitalia Diatchenko RUS - Mathilde Johansson FRA: 2-6 6-2 10-8
Nadia Petrova RUS (11) - Lauren Embree USA: 6-1 6-2
Victoria Azarenka BLR (9) - Roberta Vinci ITA: 6-4 6-2
Elena Vesnina RUS - Severine Bremond Beltrame FRA: 6-3 6-3
Olivia Sanchez FRA - Arantxa Rus NED: 1-6 1-6
Emilie Loit FRA - Timea Bacsinszky SUI: 6-4 4-6 1-6
Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP - Julie Coin FRA: 5-7 2-6
Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (27): 3-6 2-6
Varvara Lepchenko USA - Alla Kudryavtseva RUS: 3-6 3-6
Maria-Emilia Salerni ARG - Kristina Barrois GER: 6-3 1-6 2-6
Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ - Kaia Kanepi EST (19): 7-6 3-6 6-2
Iveta Benesova CZE (32) - Julia Goerges GER: 7-5 4-1 retired
Na Li CHN (25) - Marta Domachowska POL: 6-4 6-2
Tamira Paszek AUT - Gisela Dulko ARG: 1-6 3-6

Alexandre Sidorenko FRA - Marat Safin RUS (20): 4-6 4-6 4-6
Wayne Odesnik USA - Gilles Simon FRA (7): 6-3 5-7 2-6 6-4 3-6
Florent Serra FRA - Fernando Verdasco ESP (8): 2-6 1-6 4-6
Andy Murray GBR (3) - Juan Ignacio Chela ARG: 6-2 6-2 6-1
Lleyton Hewitt AUS - Ivo Karlovic CRO (26): 6-7 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-3
Radek Stepanek CZE (18) - Gaston Gaudio ARG : 6-3 6-4 6-1
Ernests Gulbis LAT - Sam Querrey USA: 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-1
Marcel Granollers ESP - Josselin Ouanna FRA: 5-7 6-2 6-3 6-7 1-6
Frederico Gil POR - David Ferrer ESP (14): 2-6 4-6 4-6
Nicolas Almagro ESP (31) - Agustin Calleri ARG: 6-4 6-1 6-3
Denis Gremelmayr GER - Andrey Golubev KAZ: 3-6 3-6 2-6
Jan Hernych CZE - Marin Cilic CRO (13): 0-6 4-6 3-6
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE - Mathieu Montcourt FRA: 2-6 retired
Daniel Brands GER - Robert Kendrick USA: 7-6 5-7 6-7 6-4 3-6
Peter Polansky CAN - Philipp Petzschner GER: 7-5 2-6 6-7 6-4 3-6
Dudi Sela ISR - Jean-Rene Lisnard MON: 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-3

So Roland Garros 2009 has started. Day 1 at Roland Garros was a good one for the last year's winner in the women's singles competition, Ana Ivanovic. In a match played on Chatrier Court, Ana Ivanovic beat Sara Errani from Italy in two sets, 7-6, 6-3.

However, the match was much more difficult than expected and it lasted for 2 hours and 2 minutes. The world number 44, Sara Errani, proved to be very resilient and made Ana Ivanovic work hard for the victory. Ana threw 10 break points during the first set, and the second one went into a tiebreak.

Here are the matches that are going to be played in the first round of women's singles competition.

Section 1

Dinara Safina RUS (1) - Anne Keothavong GBR
Vitalia Diatchenko RUS - Mathilde Johansson FRA
Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP - Julie Coin FRA
Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (27)
Alisa Kleybanova RUS (23) - Polona Hercog SLO
Ai Sugiyama JPN - Aravane Rezai FRA
Michelle Larcher De Brito POR - Melanie South GBR
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA - Jie Zheng CHN (15)
Victoria Azarenka BLR (9) - Roberta Vinci ITA
Maria-Emilia Salerni ARG - Kristina Barrois GER
Yvonne Meusburger AUT - Lucie Hradecka CZE
Edina Gallovits ROU - Carla Suarez Navarro ESP (22)
Iveta Benesova CZE (32) - Julia Goerges GER
Varvara Lepchenko USA - Alla Kudryavtseva RUS
Tamarine Tanasugarn THA - Camille Pin FRA
Sara Errani ITA - Ana Ivanovic SRB (8)

Section 2

Venus Williams USA (3) - Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA
Lucie Safarova CZE - Sabine Lisicki GER
Elena Vesnina RUS - Severine Bremond Beltrame FRA
Corinna Dentoni ITA - Agnes Szavay HUN (29)
Dominika Cibulkova SVK (20) - Alona Bondarenko UKR
Stephanie Foretz FRA - Kirsten Flipkens BEL
Tamira Paszek AUT - Gisela Dulko ARG
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER - Amelie Mauresmo FRA (16)
Nadia Petrova RUS (11) - Lauren Embree USA
Anastasiya Yakimova BLR - Maria Sharapova RUS
Olivia Sanchez FRA - Arantxa Rus NED
Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ - Kaia Kanepi EST (19)
Na Li CHN (25) - Marta Domachowska POL
Emilie Loit FRA - Timea Bacsinszky SUI
Irena Pavlovic FRA - Akgul Amanmuradova UZB
Olga Govortsova BLR - Katie O'brien GBR

Section 3

Jelena Jankovic SRB (5) - Petra Cetkovska CZE
Magdalena Rybarikova SVK - Kristina Mladenovic FRA
Jarmila Groth AUS - Kinnie Laisne FRA
Mariana Duque Marino COL - Anna Chakvetadze RUS (26)
Alize Cornet FRA (21) - Maret Ani EST
Carly Gullickson USA - Sorana Cirstea ROU
Tsvetana Pironkova BUL - Jill Craybas USA
Vera Dushevina RUS - Caroline Wozniacki DEN (10)
Marion Bartoli FRA (13) - Pauline Parmentier FRA
Tathiana Garbin ITA - Ayumi Morita JPN
Virginie Razzano FRA - Daniela Hantuchova SVK
Ekaterina Makarova RUS - A. Medina Garrigues ESP (18)
Samantha Stosur AUS (30) - Francesca Schiavone ITA
Yanina Wickmayer BEL - Urszula Radwanska POL
Jelena Dokic AUS - Karolina Sprem CRO
Chanelle Scheepers RSA - Elena Dementieva RUS (4)

Section 4

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (7) - Claire Feuerstein FRA
Galina Voskoboeva KAZ - Sania Mirza IND
Anastasija Sevastova LAT - Melinda Czink HUN
Nathalie Dechy FRA - Sybille Bammer AUT (28)
Patty Schnyder SUI (17) - Kateryna Bondarenko UKR
Olivia Rogowska AUS - Maria Kirilenko RUS
Patricia Mayr AUT - Mariya Koryttseva UKR
Rossana De Los Rios PAR - Agnieszka Radwanska POL (12)
Flavia Pennetta ITA (14) - Alexa Glatch USA
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE - Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP
Mara Santangelo ITA - Petra Martic CRO
Monica Niculescu ROU - Aleksandra Wozniak CAN (24)
Shuai Peng CHN (31) - Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP
Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR - Zuzana Ondraskova CZE
Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP - Nicole Vaidisova CZE
Klara Zakopalova CZE - Serena Williams USA (2)

Here are the matches that are going to take place in the first round of men's singles competition.

Section 1

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) - Marcos Daniel BRA
Igor Kunitsyn RUS - Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS
Denis Gremelmayr GER - Andrey Golubev KAZ
Lleyton Hewitt AUS - Ivo Karlovic CRO (26)
Robin Soderling SWE (23)- Kevin Kim USA
Denis Istomin UZB - Santiago Giraldo COL
Ilia Bozoljac SRB - Nicolas Kiefer GER
Frederico Gil POR - David Ferrer ESP (14)
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (10) - Stefan Koubek AUT
Diego Junqueira ARG - Paul Capdeville CHI
Nicolas Massu CHI - Daniel Koellerer AUT
Nicolas Devilder FRA - Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (17)
Nicolas Almagro ESP (31) - Agustin Calleri ARG
Ernests Gulbis LAT - Sam Querrey USA
Peter Polansky CAN - Philipp Petzschner GER
Florent Serra FRA - Fernando Verdasco ESP (8)

Section 2

Andy Murray GBR (3) - Juan Ignacio Chela ARG
Mischa Zverev GER - Potito Starace ITA
Janko Tipsarevic SRB - Albert Montanes ESP
Franco Ferreiro BRA - Feliciano Lopez ESP (28)
Radek Stepanek CZE (18) - Gaston Gaudio ARG
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE - Mathieu Montcourt FRA
Dudi Sela ISR - Jean-Rene Lisnard MON
Jan Hernych CZE - Marin Cilic CRO (13)
Fernando Gonzalez CHI (12) - Jiri Vanek CZE
Rui Machado POR - Kristof Vliegen BEL
Marcel Granollers ESP - Josselin Ouanna FRA
Alexandre Sidorenko FRA - Marat Safin RUS (20)
Victor Hanescu ROU (30) - Steve Darcis BEL
Mikhail Youzhny RUS - Gilles Muller LUX
Daniel Brands GER - Robert Kendrick USA
Wayne Odesnik USA - Gilles Simon FRA (7)

Section 3

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (5) - Michael Llodra FRA
Viktor Troicki SRB - Lukasz Kubot POL
Thomaz Bellucci BRA - Martin Vassallo Arguello ARG
Fabio Fognini ITA - Igor Andreev RUS (25)
Dmitry Tursunov RUS (21) - Arnaud Clement FRA
Fabrice Santoro FRA - Christophe Rochus BEL
Marcos Baghdatis CYP - Juan Monaco ARG
Julien Benneteau FRA - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (9)
Tommy Robredo ESP (16) - Adrian Mannarino FRA
Evgeny Korolev RUS - Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP - Andreas Seppi ITA
Maximo Gonzalez ARG - Mardy Fish USA (22)
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER (29) - Bernard Tomic AUS
Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP - Ivan Ljubicic CRO
Brian Dabul ARG - Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR
Nicolas Lapentti ECU - Novak Djokovic SRB (4)

Section 4

Andy Roddick USA (6) - Romain Jouan FRA
Oscar Hernandez ESP - Ivo Minar CZE
Ivan Navarro ESP - Andreas Beck GER
Marc Gicquel FRA - Rainer Schuettler GER (27)
Jurgen Melzer AUT (24) - Sergio Roitman ARG
Guillaume Rufin FRA - Eduardo Schwank ARG
Victor Crivoi ROU - Simon Greul GER
Bobby Reynolds USA - Gael Monfils FRA (11)
James Blake USA (15) - Leonardo Mayer ARG
Andrei Pavel ROU - Tommy Haas GER
Bjorn Phau GER - Jeremy Chardy FRA
Simone Bolelli ITA - Tomas Berdych CZE (19)
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA (32) - Laurent Recouderc FRA
Robby Ginepri USA - Pablo Andujar ESP
Jose Acasuso ARG - Santiago Ventura ESP
Alberto Martin ESP - Roger Federer SUI (2)

Nalbandián is probably going to go through a surgery, according to the newspaper Clarín. The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13th, in Barcelona.

However, people who are close to David Nalbandián deny these rumors and say that he only needs treatment. The fact that this information appeared in the newspaper really upset the friends and relatives of the Argentinian tennis player. As a matter of fact, he clearly stated that he wants to avoid surgery for this hip injury.

This injury is an older problem of the tennis player. It occurred in the Davis Cup quarter finals in 2008, quarter finals that were played between Argentina and Sweden. Let's just hope that David doesn't miss Roland Garros 2009, as he is a very good clay court player.

There probably never was a time when a player was more of a favorite to win the Roland Garros tournament than now. And we all know that name: Rafael Nadal. Still, the men’s singles competition will ignite the imagination of many, as people expect Roger Federer to come out and respond to the world number 1. But here are the four favorite who seem to be, by far, the best players in the world.

1. Rafael Nadal
Even though he’s now only 22 and will turn 23 on June 3rd during this year’s Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal already has 4 French Open wins to his name. Amazingly, he has actually never lost at Roland Garros, having won the last 4 consecutive editions, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. He is an amazing player on clay. He has a total of 6 grand slam wins to his name, and in the last 3 editions of Roland Garros, he beat in the final who other than Roger Federer. As a matter of fact, 5 out of the 6 grand slam finals that he won were won against Roger Federer. Rafael Nadal is currently ranked 1 in the ATP rankings.

2. Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a name synonym to history in modern tennis. Born on August 8th 1981, this amazing player has 13 grand slam titles, just one shy of Pete Sampras’ all time record of 14. He was denied equaling this record by Rafael Nadal in this year’s final of Australian Open. He has the record of the greatest amount of time a player has been ranked world number 1, and it happened from February 2nd 2004 to August 17th, 2008. That amounts to an incredible consecutive 237 weeks. Roland Garros is the only grand slam title he has never won. I personally expect him to do it this year, although Nadal is the big favorite. The great Federer–Nadal rivalry is probably the most intense and incredible rivalry the world of tennis has ever known. Roger Federer is currently ranked number 2.

3. Novak Djokovic
He is the world number 3 and has been so since August 13th, 2007. The Serbian has one grand slam title to his name, the 2008 Australian Open, and was once runner up at the 2007 US Open, when he was beaten in the final be Roger Federer. He was born on May 22nd 1987 in Belgrade. He has closed the gap that separates him from being world number 2, and he will be looking to challenge that spot that belongs to Federer at this year’s Roland Garros.

4. Andy Murray
The Scottish player is just one week older than Novak Djokovic, as he was born on May 15th 1987. He has only one grand slam final to his name, the 2008 US Open. He was beaten in the final by the eternal Roger Federer. Experts agree that he is getting better and better at his game and the fact that he has won lately against Roger Federer on several occasions is proof of that. He is currently ranked 4th.

Other players that we should mention and are capable of deciding the champion are: Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina), Andy Roddick (USA) and Fernando Verdasco (Spain).