Roland Garros: Day 1 round-up

Singles - First Round
(6) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 64 60
(10) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (Q) Zhang Shuai (CHN) 63 64
(13) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (Q) Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) 61 61
(20) Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) 62 60
(21) Sara Errani (ITA) d. Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 46 62 62
(26) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 61 63
María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. (Q) Eva Birnerova (CZE) 46 64 86
Venus Williams (USA) d. Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 46 61 63
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 62 62
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. (Q) Heidi El Tabakh (CAN) 75 62
Mathilde Johansson (FRA) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 57 76(6) 64
Irina Falconi (USA) d. Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) 36 63 61
(Q) Alexa Glatch (USA) d. Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 63 57 64
(Q) Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) d. (WC) Caroline Garcia (FRA) 36 64 63
(WC) Irena Pavlovic (FRA) d. Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 64 75
(WC) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 63
Shockers:

(WC) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 63

Wut?!?! Melanie Oudin won a match???!? At a Grand Slam?!?!? Is this the end of the world???! I had written off Melanie in my preview but she totally made me eat my words with this straight sets victory over Johanna Larsson. Well, Johanna helped Melanie a lot with her incessant errors but it's easy to want to win so much that you overhit your shots. Precious points for Melanie. As for Johanna, no words. Please learn how to play tennis.

María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. (Q) Eva Birnerova (CZE) 46 64 86

Maria Jose wins a marathon match! First match of the tournament to exceed 12 games in the 3rd set. It's comforting for the former Rome champion to win such a tight match. She's different from the other players and likes to venture to the net with her touch shots. Not too sure if any match points were saved but she was broken when serving for the match the first time. So it's definitely a confidence boost for this Spaniard. As for Eva, she should be disappointed at letting this huge opportunity slip. Next up for Maria Jose is Lucie Safarova, which would be a tough test.

(Q) Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) d. (WC) Caroline Garcia (FRA) 36 64 63

Dinah who?!?! Let's clarify who this girl is. Dinah Pfizenmaier has not play a single WTA main draw match before, have not qualified for a main tour event before. This is the first time she's playing a qualifying event in a Grand Slam and she qualified! Another amazing fact is that last year, she was unranked! Another German player to watch? Definitely. I've watched the last game of this match and this girl's got some wheels on her. Her court coverage is impressive and you can see she's really enjoying herself on the court. As for her game, a little too defensive for my liking but she can definitely make improvements. As for Caroline Garcia, another epic fail for her. Ever since her near-win against Sharapova last year, she has done absolutely NOTHING. Andy Murray must be saying now "What was I thinking?".

Other matches provided no real surprises. Venus struggled a bit but got her grovve back and won easily in the 2nd and 3rd set. Alexa Glatch took out higher ranked Anna Tatishvili as I have predicted. The seeds all went through without much trouble. :)