Roland Garros 2013 Day 4: Monfils comes through against Gulbis

Monfils backed up his win over Berdych with a four set defeat of Ernests Gulbis

Roland Garros 2013 Day 4: Monfils comes through against Gulbis

Day 4 at the 2013 French Open Championships saw the tournament play catch-up as the first round was completed and the second got underway.

In the women's draw Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova made their delayed first appearances and got opening wins under their belts.  Petra had yet another wobble against former top 15 Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai. 

I wish the Czech could cut down on her errors and these walkabouts as when she puts it together ala Wimbledon 2011 I still think she's the second best player in women's tennis.

Serena slammed many ferocious shots past Garcia

The best player in women's tennis looked awesome in her second round 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Caroline Garcia.

Roland Garros 2013 Day 3: Bartoli back from the brink

French No.1 Bartoli fights her way through to round two

Roland Garros 2013 Day 3: Bartoli back from the brink

On a rain delayed third day the French Open had its first view of World No.1 Novak Djokovic.  The top seed was pushed by the diminutive and talented David Goffin. 

Goffin put up a fine fight against the four-time Australian Open champion

The Belgian drew on his run to round four twelve months ago to play some wonderful tennis against the 2012 finalist.  

But the World No. 58 could not quite produce at the crucial moments and Djokovic came through 7-6(7-5), 6-4, 7-5 to book a round two meeting with Argentina's Guido Pella who battled past Ivan Dodig 12-10 in the fifth set.

Roland Garros 2013 Day 2: Monfils battles past Berdych

Monfils put everything into his superb victory over Berdych

Roland Garros 2013 Day 2: Monfils battles past Berdych

An action packed day two at Roland Garros saw both reigning champions open their campaigns with differing levels of difficulty. 

Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal was pushed hard by hard hitting German Daniel Brands who took the opening set 6-4 and led 3-0 in the second set tie-break. 

 

Nadal was feeling the strain but fought his way through



Had the World No.59 taken some of the next few crucial exchanges Nadal could have been in even more trouble but the 3rd seed raised his game having levelled the match and broke at the start of the 3rd and 4th sets before coming through 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-4, 6-3.

In contrast No.2 seed Maria Sharapova was relatively untroubled in her 6-2, 6-1 victory over the unorthodox Su-Wei Hsieh who on paper looked to be a tricky draw.

Roland Garros 2013 Day 1: Venus bows out after thriller

Venus fought her heart out but it wasn't quite enough

Roland Garros 2013 Day 1: Venus bows out after thriller

Day 1 at the 2013 French Open championships saw superb performances from former champions Serena Williams and Roger Federer as two former Grand Slam champions bowed out but not before showing considerable heart on the clay.

Now ranked 86th 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon winner Lleyton Hewitt displayed his customary guts and determination against 15th seeded Gilles Simon.  The 32 year-old Aussie initially led the Frenchman by two sets to love on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Roland Garros 2013: Contenders & Predictions

Roland Garros 2013: Contenders & Predictions

The second major championships of 2013 is almost upon us with 15 days of electrifying clay court tennis about to served up at Roland Garros.  These are my picks for the players who will make an impact at this year's French Open.

Women's Singles


20 year-old Williams lifts the trophy in 2002


Serena Williams has looked awesome for most of 2013, as she did for most of 2012.  She has looked superb on the clay with titles in Charleston, Madrid and Rome.  It's the first time she's ever come into Roland Garros with three clay court crowns. 

The way she has been playing she has to be the favourite as she looks to add to her lone French Open title way back in 2002.  Wiping out the memory of her first round loss 12 months ago will be a motivation and as long as she doesn't have a similar meltdown she will win.