The highlight match of the day lived up to all its promises. After Adrian Mannarino, it was Julien Benneteau’s turn to qualify for the second round. He managed to impose his game against Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot ranked 29th in the world. He closed the match with a score of 7-6, 6-2 in 1 hour and 35 minutes of play.
Julien Benneteau delivered a lesson on the center court today: a match is never lost in advance. Ranked 83rd in the world, he faced Marcos Baghdatis, ranked 29th. With a fifty-place gap, the match appeared very unbalanced. The Cypriot demonstrated this from the very beginning of the match. He was agile, struck the ball well, and took advantage of numerous errors from the Frenchman, who declared himself “nervous”. The break was earned and confirmed. Marcos led 3-0.
Little by little, the Frenchman from Bourg-en-Bresse got back into the game. He loosened up and played his game. He caught up to 3-3. Tiebreaks followed until the decisive game. It was time to shift gears! Julien Benneteau unleashed his shots, including his serve clocked at 208 km/h. The Cypriot made many errors and quickly found himself down 3 points to 0. The Frenchman concluded the set with 7 points to 3 on his serve after 1 hour of play.
The second set started at 2-2. The winner of the 2009 France Masters struggled with his serve. A break point was at Marcos Baghdatis’ reach. The crowd intervened. They chanted “Benneteau Benneteau Benneteau” while applauding. A group of shirtless young men, each displaying a letter of the Frenchman’s name, became even more animated. They jumped and shouted in all directions. “A pleasant and unexpected support” for the Frenchman who seized his chance and scored the long-awaited point. 3-2, the game was on the board, and the crowd applauded again. Julien Benneteau broke in succession, leading 4-2. The rest was just a formality.
He ultimately won the match 7-6 (3) 6-2. He will face Pablo Andujar, a Spaniard ranked 49th in the world, tomorrow. “I know him well, he’s a solid clay courter on both sides. It’s up to me to play my game.” Given that his objective is to “play as many matches as possible to build confidence ahead of Roland Garros,” he is determined not to stop there!
Other results of the day:
Carlos Berlocq (Arg) defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) 5-7 6-3 6-0.
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 7-6 (5) 6-3.
Ernests Gulbis (Lat) defeated Fabio Fognini (Ita) 6-3 3-6 6-3.
Robin Haase (Ned) (Lucky Loser) defeated Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) 6-3 6-4.
On the schedule for Wednesday:
Center court starting at 11 a.m.:
C.Berlocq (Arg) – [3] N.Almagro (Esp)
Not before 1:50 p.m.:
[1] D.Ferrer (Esp) – A.Seppi (Ita)
Not before 3 p.m.:
[WC] J.Benneteau (Fra) – P.Andujar (Esp)
Not before 5:50 p.m.:
A.Mannarino (Fra) – [2] T.Berdych (Cze).
Court 1, from 11 a.m.:
[Q] P.Riba (Esp) – [5] A.Dolgopolov (Ukr)
[LL] R.Haase (Ned) – [7] S.Stakhovsky (Ukr)
M.Russell (LL) (Usa) – V.Hanescu (Rou)
[WC] E.Gulbis (Lat) – D Istomin (Uzb).
Court 5, from 2 p.m.:
[4] S.Gonzalez (Mex) / D.Marrero (Esp) – S.Lipsky (Usa) / R.Ram (Usa)
J.Erlich (Isr) / P.Hanley (Aus) – [2] E.Butorac (Usa) / J.Rojer (Aho)
Not before 5 p.m.:
[1] M.Melo (Bra) / B.Soares (Bra) – D.Brown (Ger) / T.Rettenmaier (Usa)
