After hobbling around court on a balky right knee, two-time Australian Open victor Victoria Azarenka is out of the French Open in the first round, but not without putting up a fight.
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The Serbian top seed now stands only six matches away from becoming the first man in nearly 50 years to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
“It was a little short for me, but I think in my career, if I don’t have it by now, I need to look into something different”. There were unsympathetic laughs from the Court 1 crowd when she seized up again in the set’s second game, clutching the knee in obvious pain. – Murray on finishing off his two-day, five-set victory over Radek Stepanek. Live scores for matches and schedules is available on Roland-Garros. At 37 years old, coming out and fighting like that.
The rain that played havoc with the schedule over the first two days was nowhere to be found Tuesday, although the chill remained, and Williams wore leggings under her skirt and a zipped-up, long-sleeved top to shield her from temperatures that hovered around 60 degrees (15 Celsius). He hardly missed any volleys – until the one on match point and even that almost got over – hit a lot of drop shots and hit the ball very flat and that made it very hard for me.
Djokovic is craving a career Grand Slam at the French Open after losing in the final three times over the past four years.
Azarenka got more treatment but called it quits with Knapp leading, 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 4-0.
But number one seed Novak Djokovic advanced a lot more easily, beating Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4 6-1 6-1 to open his campaign.
Rafael Nadal started his quest for a record- breaking 10th French Open title in merciless fashion, demolishing Australian Sam Groth 6-1, 6-1, 6-1on Tuesday.
Murray, whose last first-round exit at a grand slam was more than eight years ago, lost the first two sets when the match began on Monday but had turned things around and led 4-2 in the fourth when darkness brought an end to play.
Stepanek, the oldest man in the field at 37, hit 57 winners in his suspenseful encounter on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Stepanek, who is bidding to become the oldest player to win a grand slam match since Jimmy Connors in 1992, revels in making life hard for his opponent and it was not long before Murray was chuntering away.
“It’s unbelievable what he’ been doing”, Murray said after the three hour and 41 minute match.
The two-time major champion did not make any sort of attempt to hide that feeling, engaging in his usual mix of gesticulating and grousing. He was relentless, placing shots with precision that and attacking the net judiciously.
On the men’s side, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil lost his opening-round match 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
“I gave it all. I have no regrets”.
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Stepanek, bidding to become the oldest victor of a match at Roland Garros since 38-year-old Jimmy Connors in 1991, remained proud of his efforts despite falling just short of recording a huge shock.
