French Open Day Two

It was an interesting first round match-up between Roger Federer and America’s top young talent, Sam Querrey.  Roger proved to be in very solid shape with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory.  What was so impressive was the way he constructed points on the slow surface; he was successfully sliding into shots, seemed to add some extra spin to his strokes…leading me to believe that he’s in prime shape to go far in the bracket. 

Surprisingly #17 seed Marcos Baghdatis made an early straight set exit to Simone Bolelli; Baghdatis has only won two matches in the last 3 months, it’s safe to say he’s in a slump.  Aside from Venus Williams’ 3 set thrilling victory, the highlight for American tennis was Wayne Odesnik.  Wayne handed #29 seed Guillermo Canas a 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 first round defeat, and played with exceptional confidence and poise throughout the match.  I recall playing in an Atlantic City Challenger event that Wayne was in nearly 4 years ago, and he has made huge leaps since then (most notably his cross court two handed backhand).  Wayne made the semi finals in Houston last month, with clay victories over Amer Delic and Dudi Sela, so he could ride this momentum for a few more rounds in Paris.  And once again, congrats to Venus on the 3 set victory, it wasn’t pretty, but she showed a lot of heart.