Five-set Matches: Monfils and Ljubicic Move On, Davydenko Out

The name of the game at the French Open this morning was lengthy, draining five-set matches for Gael Monfils and Ivan Ljubicic. I watched a bit of it on the tellie, but the scores themselves provide proof for how back-and-forth these two amazing matches were.

Monfils and Jurgen Melzer traded sets with Melzer winning the first and third with scores of 6-4 in each set, but Monfils won the second set 7-5 and then blanked Melzer in the fourth set before finishing him off with a 6-2 fifth set.

Fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko won the first two sets off Ljubicic 6-4, 6-2, but the 28th-ranked Croatian stormed back in the third set with a 6-3 flattening of Davydenko and followed it up with a 6-2 fourth set to level it at two sets apiece. The deciding set went in favor of Ljubicic when he earned the early break and then held at love when he served out the set at 6-4 to win the match.

Whew…exciting! I’m telling you, that’s what these Grand Slams are about – me sitting on the couch watching tip-top athletes completely expend themselves on a tennis court for several hours!

(Image: Newscom)
Gael Monfils stretches out for a return at the French Open…check out his arms, any takers for two tickets to the gun show?