TENNIS in DEPTH.

Three years on from the greatest moment of her career, the Serb lost a see-saw contest 7-6 (7/3) 0-6 6-2 to Sweden’s Johanna Larsson. It was a clash in which Ivanovic’s go-for-broke approach failed to reap dividends, aside from a period of mid-match dominance. After dropping a closely-contested first set on a tie-break, Ivanovic did manage to find her range in the second. She raced through that to love in just 25 minutes and headed into the decider as the favourite. However, the unforced errors soon returned to Ivanovic’s game – she would finish with a total of 45 to her opponent’s 16 – and she struggled to make an impact with her return of serve. Larsson duly capitalised to set up a second-round meeting with Ekaterina Makarova.

Maria Sharapova swept into the second round of the French Open for the loss of only three games against Mirjana Lucic. The Russian, who will complete her set of Grand Slam titles if she lifts the title on the Paris clay, won the last nine games to cruise through 6-3 6-0 in 56 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier. Sharapova is returning to something like her best form after a lengthy struggle with shoulder problems and she marked herself out as a potential title contender by winning the prestigious warm-up event in Rome earlier this month.

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The position of number 1 in the world rankings, which has been Nole’s lifetime goal, has never been closer. Novak started playing tennis 20 years ago, and this could be the year his dream comes true!

The members of the fan club, wish Nole a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and hope he lifts the trophy in Paris at Roland Garros on June 5. He has entered the tournament on a record breaking win streak, and is the favorite to win his 3rd. Grand Slam title. He has to get by some tough competition to reach the final in Paris, and with Del Potro and Federer in his draw I wonder if he will have enough left in his tank after a series of 5 set matches. Rafa will be tougher than ever on what he considers is his ‘home’ court!

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Tomas Berdych became the most high-profile casualty of the French Open to date as he fell to French qualifier Stephane Robert in five sets. The Czech eighth seed, who beat Andy Murray en route to the semi-finals in 2010, raced into a two-set lead. But 31-year-old Robert, ranked 140th, came back to win 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 9-7 in three hours and 23 minutes.

Elsewhere, Juan Martin del Potro, Mikhail Youzhny, Viktor Troicki and Thomaz Bellucci all posted victories. It was, however, Robert’s stunning triumph over 25-year-old Berdych that stole the headlines. The right-hander had never previously won a match at Roland Garros and this was only his second win in eight Grand Slam appearances. It was also only his second win of the season on the ATP World Tour and earned him a second-round meeting with Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who overcame Denis Istomin 6-4 6-2 6-2.

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The world number two, who is now only four short of John McEnroe’s record start to a season of 42 consecutive victories, thumped Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker 6-2 6-1 6-3 on Court Philippe Chatrier. Djokovic’s run has brought him seven titles, including the Australian Open and wins over world number one Rafael Nadal in four Masters 1000 events. The Spaniard is still the favourite to win a sixth Roland Garros crown but Djokovic certainly did nothing to harm his chances with a brisk 92-minute victory.

The Serb served notice of things to come by breaking his opponent, ranked 71st in the world, in the second game of the match, and he had no trouble clinching the opening set. De Bakker lost the first five games of the second and, although he managed to avoid a ‘bagel’, it merely delayed the inevitable. The 22-year-old made a better fist of things in the third set but Djokovic was simply a class above.

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Eighth seed Stosur, beaten in the 2010 final by Francesca Schiavone, was broken in game one but came through strongly to win in 68 minutes. The Australian will next face Romanian teenager Simona Halep, who thrashed Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2 6-1.

Tenth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Alona Bondarenko 6-3 6-1 but 19th seed Shahar Peer suffered a shock first-round exit. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Julia Goerges and Flavia Pennetta are among the other seeds in action on Sunday.

Stosur opened proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier and looked like she might by in for a tough contest when Benesova stuck in the opening service game. But the 27-year-old from Queensland responded with four games in a row and was rarely troubled thereafter. She has one of the best kick serves in the women’s game and Benesova simply had no answer, with a single break in game six of the second set proving decisive. ”It was nice to get back out there again and play a really solid first round,” said Stosur. “I thought I played really quite well today. I served quite well. ”The conditions weren’t always easy with some gusts of wind. I’m very happy. ”Obviously I thought of last year’s match but it was nice to get out there again and, of course, if you can play on any court here you’d want to play on that one.”

The first result of the tournament saw Halep ease past Kudryavtseva to set up a second-round meeting with Stosur, while 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova also won through. The Bulgarian, a shock semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2010, beat Casey Dellacqua of Australia 7-5 6-3 and will next face Argentina’s Gisela Dulko following her 6-3 6-4 triumph over American Irina Falconi. It was not all plain sailing for the bigger names, though, with Israel’s 19th seed Peer dumped out by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The unseeded Spaniard, who has failed to build on her shock win in Rome last year, edged the first set before running away with the second to triumph 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.

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They became the first country to win the trophy five times in the competition’s 34-year history when Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner beat Juan Ignacio Chela and Maximo Gonzalez 6-3 7-6 (7/5) in the deciding doubles match. Earlier in the day, Florian Mayer had put Germany 1-0 ahead with a 7-6 (7/4) 6-0 win over Juan Monaco, only for Chela to then defeat Kohlschreiber 6-4 7-6 (7/4) to level things up.

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Andrea Petkovic won her second career WTA title and booked a new career-high ranking on the eve of the French Open, beating French No.1 Marion Bartoli via retirement in the final of the Internationaux de Strasbourg. For the first time in nine years the Top 2 seeds made it to the final of the International-level tournament, and No.1 seed Bartoli did it in lightning-fast fashion, losing just 11 games in three matches; Petkovic, the No.2 seed, had straight set wins in her first three matches but needed almost three hours to get past No.6 seed Daniela Hantuchova in the semifinals, 6-4 in the third. With a smoother path to the final, Bartoli looked fresher at the start of the title match, winning the first two games to lead 2-0. But the momentum began shifting and soon Petkovic won the first set and the first game of the second set; up 64 10, the German won the title when Bartoli retired with a left thigh injury.

Caroline Wozniacki warmed up for the French Open in style by winning the inaugural Brussels Open with a three-set win over Peng Shuai. After losing the first set 2-6, the Dane hit back to win the next two 6-3 6-3 and pick up a fourth title of the year. It was her first clay-court title, though, giving her the perfect preparation for Roland Garros. ”It’s my fourth title of the season. I was pleased with the way I played and fought,” Wozniacki said. ”Now I’m looking forward to Roland Garros – I think I play on Monday, but I’ll be ready.”

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In a match lasting 2 hours, 32 minutes, Wozniacki kept her cool in the final set and will now seek her fourth title of the year before the French Open. Peng caused an upset to reach her first final since 2008 by beating number-three ranked Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-3. The number 31 seed relied on her powerful serve to overcome the Russian. It was Peng’s first victory over Zvonareva who made several uncharacteristic errors throughout. ”I’m really excited to go to the final,” Peng said after her victory. ”I played her many times and lost many times.” Yet Peng was not intimidated and was dominant throughout. She slammed seven aces on the slow clay, compared to none for the Russian. Zvonareva never found her touch as she was pressed all over the court.

Later, in the best match of the tournament so far, Schiavone fought back against Wozniacki with attacking play to force a third set.  Schiavone had lost to the Dane three times on hard court since beating her in the quarter-final on the way to the French Open title. In a nervous third set, both players were error-prone on their serve, but in the end Wozniacki won the biggest points. She won the match with a volley that wrong footed Schiavone.

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