With the delay caused by the rain, it was a rather packed schedule that the organizers of the tournament proposed this Tuesday at the Nice LTC, with many matches spread across 4 courts.
A day marked by a French face-off between Benoit Paire and Edouard Roger-Vasselin and punctuated by a night session for the match between Robin Haase and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The day started under the best auspices. With the return of the sun, tennis could naturally take its course on the courts of the city of Nice.
On the center court, the Belgian Xavier Malisse eventually prevailed against the Taiwanese Lu, a match which had begun the day before before being interrupted by the rain. The affair was wrapped up in two sets, 7/5 6/4.
In the next round, he will encounter a certain John Isner, first seed, who came to hit the practice courts a few hours later with sparring partner… the Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko succeeded in his initial round and qualified for the round of 16 at the expense of Australian Matthew Ebden with a score of 6-3 6-3.
It should be noted that the tournament enlisted the charming presence of hostess Camille Pin.
At the same time on court number 1, Grigor Dimitrov overcame the Israeli Dudi Sela and earned the right to face the next day the best French hope in the tournament, the Nice resident Simon, the world’s 12th ranked player.
It also went well for the young Australian hope Bernard Tomic, who will face Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin in the next round.
Paire, missed again
Early in the afternoon, it was time for what was presented as the French face-off between two friends, Paire (ranked 66th) and Roger-Vasselin (ranked 83rd).
The match seemed unbalanced. While the first was a finalist 15 days ago in Belgrade, the second lacked victories on clay at the start of this season.
Yet it was the older of the two, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who got off to the best start by quickly distancing himself to lead 4/0.
A surge of pride and a slight drop from the opponent, Benoit Paire came back to 3/4 but Roger-Vasselin kept his break advantage and won the first set (6/4).
In the second act, both players were neck and neck. At 5/4 in his favor, Paire poorly managed his return game and notably missed a set point with a drop shot attempt that remained in his racket.
Instead of tightening his game, the Frenchman accumulated errors and treated the audience to his usual nonchalance. Although it hits home with the fans, today at least, it led him straight to defeat.
Edouard Roger-Vasselin capitalized on the shortcomings of his compatriot to take him into a decisive game which proved fatal. Final score 6/4 7/6.
Certainly less creative, the world’s 83rd player demonstrated greater stability and much better efficiency than his opponent, particularly on important points.
His discipline led him directly to the round of 16 where he will face a big contender, Nicolas Almagro, third seed and 2011 edition winner.
Once again this year, Benoit Paire will not see the second round of the Nice Open.
The little Baker story
Focus on a player about whom little is known but whose talent and journey might merit some attention, the American Brian Baker.
Although he continued his beautiful adventure discreetly by qualifying for the round of 16 after coming through the qualifiers, his story is nothing short of atypical.
He first experienced a “first career” spanning from 2002 to 2005 where he managed to reach the 172nd world ranking, with his most significant win being over Gaudio, then the 9th seed, at the US Open 2005.
After two years on the challenger circuit and a dire financial situation, he decided to end his career.
He then became a coach at a university in Tennessee, USA, with the sole purpose of saving money to prepare for his comeback.
After a sacrifice of more than four years, Baker, now 27, never stopped believing in his abilities and decided to try his luck again, at least for a year.
The concept of a project then takes on full meaning, far from the antics of federation beneficiaries.
In 2011, while unranked, he won an ITF tournament without conceding a set.
Currently ranked 216 in the world, the American player continues his second career at the Nice Open. He scrapes through to the round of 16 after his victory over Ukrainian Stakhovski. (6/7 6/4 7/5). He will face the French Gaël Monfils there.
A successful evening session
The highly anticipated match this Monday was undoubtedly the one scheduled for the night session, a first at the Nice Côte d’Azur Open.
And indeed, the encounter between Robin Haase and Juan Carlos Ferrero did not disappoint. It was an intense and very high-quality match offered by the two men to the central Nice audience.
The spectators, who came in very large numbers, did not hide their preference for the Spanish player.
At the end of a breathless match, and thanks to this support, Ferrero won the mental battle and ended up prevailing at the end of the suspense (4/6 7/6 7/6).
The day ended in the best possible way, a thrilling end of the match, just as we like it. In the round of 16, he will be opposed to another clay-court specialist, Thomaz Bellucci, winner in three sets over the American Donald Young.
Wednesday’s program
John Isner, the number one seed and real attraction of the week, will make his entrance into the tournament.
We will also follow with great interest the first steps of Gilles Simon, who will have to avoid the Dimitrov trap.
Roger-Vasselin will have a tough challenge against one of the tournament’s favorites, the Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, last year’s winner.
Finally, the night session match between Monfils and Baker already promises to be exciting, with Gaël known to relish this kind of atmosphere.
Center Court
From 12:00 PM
Steve Darcis (BEL) – Filippo Volandri (ITA): 0-0
Not before 2:30 PM
John Isner (USA/No.1) – Xavier Malisse (BEL): 0-2
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL/Q) – Gilles Simon (FRA/No.2): 0-2
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) – Nicolas Almagro (ESP/No.3): 0-1
Not before 8:15 PM
Gaël Monfils (FRA/No.4) – Brian Baker (USA/Q): 0-0
Court 1
From 12:00 PM
A double
Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) – Denis Istomin (UZB/No.7): 0-0
Not before 3:00 PM
Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) – Thomaz Bellucci (BRA/Q): 1-1
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) – Bernard Tomic (AUS/No.5): 0-0
