And here's the day's audio round-up.

 10 NOVEMBER 2009 ROUND-UP 
  

What a day, and what a night. And we've got the top five in the world and Marat tomorrow. Oof! Right, beddy bye boes for me - my elder son will be sitting in the presidential seats tomorrow afternoon and I need to be on sparkling form for him and indeed for you, my faithful readers. Thanks to Nynola, Jacques and the Croatian and to all of you who read during the day and/or stuck around at night. See you tomorrow - always a pleasure, never a chore...

11.45: Ljubicic leaves, head bowed, while the crowd goes wild for Gilles. 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4). Incredible. Incroyable. Absolutely not croyable.

11.44: Ljubicic ace, 4-6. First next up is long, second... rally... Ljubicic looongs it and Simon wins!

11.42: Ljubicic chips and trots in and Gilles' passing shot juuust clips the line! Three match points!

11.42: Gilles chips and limps on the Ljubi second serve and the Croat nets! Mini-break Gilles then service winner! 5-3!

11.39: 2-2 - big Gilles forehand into the corner. Mega-long sliced rally as Simon takes the pace off the ball until Ljubi slices one wide: 3-2 Simon! Dare we hope? 3-3 as Ljubi aces one, silencing the crowd at the change-over.

11.37: 1-0 Ljubicic mini-break. Gillou slices one into the net. Chip and limp, Ljubi passes him to perfect with a cross-court backhand, 2-0. Second serve, Gilles mini-breaks back and the crowd go wild! Ljubi challenges but it juuust kissed the outside of the line!

11.36: Though every point Gilles wins is cheered to the rafters, Ljubi holds to 15 and we'll have a tie-break. Gilles can't win that. He just can't. It's not physically possible.

11.33: Gilles slices and dices like Jamie Oliver and holds! He leads 6-5! And at least Nynola in NYC is reading me...

11.30: Gilles tries to chip and limp but keeps netting them. Ljubi holds to 15 amid stunned silence from the crowd. 5-5.

11.27: 0-30. Two unforced errors but he has to force the issue. Gillou shouts invectives at himself. He gets it back to 30-30 as Ljubi seems too frightened to hit the ball above lob pace. It's like Gaudio - Coria in the 2004 French Open final. 40-30 then 5-4 Gilles after two lovely sliced drops! Come on! Allez! shout the entire crowd, as well they might... 

11.23: Ljubi holds to 15. Gilles has turned as white as a sheet... poor guy.

11.21: Despite two unlucky double faults, Gillou holds to lead 4-3. A maximum of five games and a tie-break to get through. He's getting more treatment at the change-over. Can he do it? And more importantly, is anyone still reading this? If so, write in and reassure me in the comment field!

11.17: Can Gillou do a Serena versus Daniela Hantuchova at Wimbledon 2007? Serena could barely walk after straining her thigh but still won the second set tie-break and then hit pure winners one on leg while Dani Hani proved why she is known as Daniela Hantuchoker in the third... Gilles challenges a long one qt 30-all but it was indeed out. A big serve gets it back to deuce though. Gutsy stuff.

11.15: Gillou's playing and trying to hit a winner on every shot to keep the running down. Ljubi holds, it's 3-3. Will Gilles try a few serves then give up?

11.13: The doc is putting the tightest strapping on Simon's right knee that I have ever seen. The lad's gonna give it a go.

11.08: Deuce on the Ljubi serve, and the crowd are liking some of that. Gilles is chasing everything down like a battery bunny, which is rather fitting considering his hairstyle (style in the loosest sense of the term). Ooh, he's limping - what, is he out? Simon's calling on the physio...

11.03: 3-2 Simon - they're racing through the games here. Gillou's got his serve and possibly even his mojo back, with the crowd behind him.

10.47: Ljubicic takes the second set 6-3 thanks to his first serve - 78% - and Gillou's lack of it - one in three. Here we go with the decider.

10.35: Ljubicic leads 5-2, having saved a break point. Gilles lobbed one up out of desperation but to perfection and the follozed up with a smash and a half, but Ljubi had three service winners up his sleeve. It took him two lets to get there though.

10.23: Simon's first serve totally deserts him and he is broken to 30. He holds next up at a canter, but Ljubicic holds a 3-1 lead after two love games - seven first serve winners and one on the second serve. Whoosh.

10.12: First set Simon 6-3. Only the second time that Gillou has taken a set from Ljubi, who served five aces but apart from that only won nine of 16 points on his first service and again only around half on his second service. Gilles got 81% over and won 81% of them. Symmetry.

10.08: Is Tsonga really called J-Dub, Betsy asks down below. He is if I say so...! Beware, I called Novak the Djoker about three years ago and it stuck. I also claim responsibility for Slammin' Sam which now appears on Ms Stosur's website, and am attempting to get everyone to call Dominika Cibulkova and Gisela Dulko the Incredible Cibulk and the Incredible Dulk respectively...

10.04: 4-2 Simon - the coffee worked! Gillou carves out a break point with a mixture of dominance and luck - he should have put the point away early doors but kept over-hitting and was lucky to clip the lines - then Ljubi was so surprised that he managed to get a first service in that the netted an easy follow-up. Gilles then serves coolly, calmly and collectedly and it's 5-2 at the next change-over.

9.55: 3-2 Simon. Gillou holds and I need a coffee...

9.53: 2-2. Gillou carved out three break points with some incredibly precise and deep forehands, but he couldn't capitalise, sending too many shots beyond the baseline. Ivan's not getting his first serve in at the moment - he's struggling with that. 

9.43: 2-1 Simon, but Ljubi made him work for the last one with some big returns of service. Gilles hung tough though. He has s precautionary strap under his right knee but seems to be moving around fine.

9.33: The improbable duo of Brunstrom and Rojer have defeated Grosjean and Santoro 10-5 in a super tie-break. Adieu Fab, again.

And here come Gilles Simon and Ivan Ljubicic. Lyooby Loo leads their head to head 3-0, and is ranked 25 in the world, 13 places below Gilles. Can the cute Frenchman finally overcome the bald yet loveable Croat? We shall soon find out. Each has won one title this year: Simon in Bangkok, Ljubi in Lyon a couple of weeks ago.

Ljubicic made it to the final here but missed a real chance of glory, losing to a boyish Tomas Berdych in 2005. He had to qualify last year but has flown back up the rankings since. Third round (last year) is as good as Simon has done here.

9.15: Jo-Wil is posing for photos with Scooby Do, that's how cool he is! (The aforementioned cartoon hound is part of the evening's entertainment. It's not just tennis here, you know).

9.12: Jeu, set et match Jo-Wilfried Tsonga! The big fellah won 29 of 31 points on his first serve - hoo cha cha! He'll face the winner of the next match - Simon versus Ljubicic.

9.07: 6-5 Tsonga! Montanes gets nervous, his serve goes to pot and J-Dub pounces to the tune of a break to 15, the winner coming from a double-fault. The hirsute one will now serve for the match. Speedy.

9.05: 5-5 as J-Dub makes it into J-double figures in aces. A rally, a rally, my Internet blogging kingdom for a rally...

9.01: 5-4 Montanes. Not much of a match, this. Rallies at a premium.  

8.59: 4-4 as Jo serves big. As is his wont. 

8.57: 4-3 Montanes. J-Dub still snatching at shots, mainly service returns. He needs a little more patience.

8.51: Montanes continues to hold his own, as you'd expect of someone ranked 32 in the world. 3-2. This'll be a good test for J-Dub.

8.48: Ace No6 and Tsonga makes it 2-2, holding to 15. Montanes is Hawkeying everything at the moment and nothing's coming off.

8.44: Jeu Montanes, but only after a deuce. Jo-Wil had a few chances but snatched at them, netting big forehands.

8.38: 1-1. Could be all over by 9 pm this... 

8.36: 1-0 Montanes, big serves and a comfortable hold. The crowd is quiet, respectful... Albert has got a Montane to climb after that opener though... 

8.32: 5-1 Tsonga as he breaks again, wearing Montanes down via a deuce or two. Ooh, then it’s 0-30 on the J-Dub serve but two big ‘uns level it up. The crowd are right behind the defending champ, as you’d expect and go wild when a forehand bangs into the corner. Set point, rhythmic applause… Ace! Game and first set Tsonga. New balls please! What a first set. Five aces, two double faults but hey… 100% of first serves won. 14 winners, six unforced errors. He’s on good form, J-Dub.

8.22: 3-1 Tsonga and we have a break! J-Dub pounces on a second serve and pounds an inside-out forehand down the line to carve out the break point, then Montanes longs one. The Spaniard elected to receive in the hope of getting the better of the J-Dub serve before it had warmed up, but no cigar…

And then JW puts down two more aces and it’s 4-1.

8.18: 2-1 JW. He’s got 7 of 7 on first serve and has only dropped one point, and that was on his second serve.

8.15: 1-1. Montanes can serve as well…

8.09: Tsonga and Montanes have met only once in the past, on African clay. Jo-Wil won in two sets in Casablanca last year, though the second was a 12-10 tie-break. Albert has two titles to his name this year mind you, Estoril and Bucharest. Jo-Wil won in Jo-Wil’burg, Marseille and Tokyo in 2009.
And we’re under way! J-Dub elects to serve, two of them are aces and it’s a love game to start. Whooshka!

8.01: With DJ Fred Viktor pumping up the volume, out come the gladiators for tonight’s main event: Albert “Move any” Montanes and Jo-Wilfried “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” Tsonga. Lars Graf is your referee for this no holds barred contest. Let’s get ready to rrrrrrrrrrrrumble!

7.59: Super tie-break – Valerie below wants to know wassup. If it gets to one set all in all tournaments except Grand Slams, it’s decided by a tie-break which is first to ten, two points clear. Super tie-break or match tie-break, it’s called. There’s also the No Ad rule: when it gets to deuce, the next point is the winner (so no advantage then game) and the receiver gets to choose which side the server serves from. All designed to make the game faster and more fun for the fans. Doubles when it’s played really well is such a spectacular game as well and deserves a wider audience.

7.39: Blimey, Kas and Kohlschreiber break and take the second set 7-5 then in a super tie-break that really deserved its super billing, both teams save a raft of match points before the Germans defeat Nadal and Monaco 15-13! Poor Rafa, but it was no doubt good practice for him as he gets back into the swing of things.

7.13: Nadal and Monaco break back! The Hispanophones are serving at 4-5 and could take it to a tie-break. Maybe we’ll have double bubble – a normal tie-break than a super tie-break (if the German’s win the first one).

6.53: Nadal and Monaco take the opener 6-4 but are 3-1 down in the second.

Verdasco meanwhile reckons his foot is causing him no pain and he was simply tired after Valencia then driving to Madrid, flying here and playing today. Audio to follow…

6.30: Nadal and Monaco break, Monaco serving for the set.

6.20: Clément wins 3 and 1. Blimey, no hanging around there and that’s my predictions up the swanee – again! La Clé will play Tommy Haas, No 16 seed, tomorrow no doubt.

Monaco – Nadal and the German duo are locked at 3-3 in the first set, Rafa looking fluid out there.

5.55: Clément takes the opener 6-3 and breaks Feru Lopez to love to open the second (after a lucky change of shirt, of course – something that La Clé does at the end of every set, even at Grand Slams where it’s best of five).

And on Centre Court, we have that man Rafa Nadal in the company of Johnny “Chardy killer” Monaco taking on Christopher Kas and Philipp “lost to Seppi in the first round” Kohlschreiber. Let’s see how Rafa looks…

5.43: Verdasco is through, 6-7 (3) 6-4 6-4. What an effort that was though. He’ll face the winner of Cilic and Kubot in the third round, no doubt on Thursday, and that’s him another 90 points to the good in the road to London and the Masters final.

La Clé fires down a fourth ace and makes it 5-2.

5.39: Verdasco pummels the giant Italian’s backhand and carves out the break. 5-4, Nando to serve for the match.

La Clé is 4-1 up on No1. I didn’t predict that one (surprise surprise).

5.31: Eww, Verdasco is having his foot bandaged up again. It’s all plasters, scabs and corns. Enough to put you off your dinner. 3-4, Nando to serve. He’s in a spot of bother here.

Arnaud “the key” Clément has semi-bagelled and indeed demi-pain’d Feliciano Lopez, he of the gorgeous blue eyes, to open proceedings.

5.12: Verdasco leads 2-1 with a break in the decider. Even if he gets through, he doesn’t look fit enough to be galloping around the courts until the end of November for the Masters final and the Davis Cup.

5.02: Verdasco takes the second set 6-4, T-Rob and M-Gran defeat F-Gonz and JM-Delp 6-2 in the second and go through to the second round and…

Bennet is through! I have one correct prediction! At last! 4-6 7-5 6-3. Allez Bennet, who lives in the same apartment block as Guillaume who does the As it happens in French. Bennet plays Fed on Wednesday - nice one!

4.57: Petzschner breaks back! 5-2 for Bennet but Petsch is stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive, ah ha ha ha stayin’ aliiiiive…

4.39: Here's today's first photo gallery. 

4.35: 2-0 Verdasco in the second set, but that’s how the opener began, lest we forget. Bennet holds to open the decider, T-Rob and Marcel Marceau have broken John Martin of the Pot and “Can you hear the drums” Fernando “Speedy” Gonzalez – both of them, in turn – to lead 4-0 in the second set.

4.29: Aye aye! Seppi coasts the tie-break 7-3! Cat amongst the pigeons! Chat parmi les pigeons! Everyone else in the race for an ATP Tour Finals slot is licking their lips – Nando is eighth and a mere 400 ahead of Söderling, with Gonzo and Jo-Wil only about another 50 behind.

Bennet sneakily breaks, breakily sneaks, in the 12th game. 30-40, sneaketty sneak and it’s one set all. Granollers and Rommy Tobredo take the tie-break over DelPo and Gonzo, 7-2.

4.22: Ooh, 4-2 Seppi at the mini-change-over. Is Verdasco struggling with his foot? He needs a minor op but with Paris, the London masters and the Davis Cup coming up, he’s put off the operation. He might regret it…

4.19: Bennet listens to me, carves out a break point then wastes it. He threw up a lob that kissed the baseline, raced in behind it then volleyed so soft and deep that even Stan the Wuss Wawrinka could’ve got it back. Curses. Petsch then serves big to take the game and level at 4-4. Bennet then holds, 5-4 – can he sneakily break, breakily sneak here?

6-5 Verdasco, Seppi serving and in trouble. 0-30. Aha, then the Italian decides to pummel the handsome Hispanic’s backhand – looking rather weak today – and it’s 30s. A pair of big serves later and it’s a tie-break. Jeu decisif.

And on No2 court, Del Po, Gonzo, T-Rob and Granollers (not yet good enough for a nickname) are battling away in the doubles, in relative anonymity. 6-6, tie-break.

4.12: Ooh, Seppi breaks back. Verdasco’s serving now at 5-5. I’m amazed that he was broken because that big lefty serve of his that goes waaaay out aide to a righty’s backhand is unreturnable. Bennet – Petsch is 4-3 in the second with serve. Roland Garros local Bennet needs to pull something out of le sac pretty pronto.

3.47: Verdasco, sporting a white cap so I don’t know if his hair is in that shark’s fin arrangement he used to have, and a yellow t-shirt with giraffe-type spotting on the back (I’ll get a pic up soon) took an age to hold his first game, but has since broken and held again. Semi-bagel, or demi pain as they’d say over here.

3.41: And here it is. Rafa in all his glory.

 Listen to Rafael Nadal
  


3.36: Soares and legend Kevin Ullyett defeat Cuevas (who lost in the singles yesterday) and Marach in straight sets in the doubles. Petsch meanwhile is serving to take the opener, while Nando Verdasco – he who used to walk out with Ana Ivanovic and allegedly had a rumoured fling with Serena – is being held to plenty of deuces by Italian Davis Cup stalwart Andreas Seppi.

3.28: Petzschner is a break up on Benneteau, Seppi and Fernando Tabasco Verdasco (he’s hot stuff) are about to start and Rafa Nadal bids you all a good day. He’s just been for a chat with us and seems as relaxed and humble as ever. Happy to be here, still sorry about the fact that he had to pull out last year and was disappointed by the crowd’s reaction (which he totally understood), doesn’t feel under any extra pressure coming here having not won a tourney since Rome over six months ago, and since losing to Söderling in that match… I’ll pop up an audio file in a minute once we can process it.

3.08: Monaco breaks back ahead and then serves out to win, 7-6 7-5. Chardy tried but just wasn’t at the races today, as a number of you pointed out down below. 34 winners but a colossal 50 (count ‘em, 50) unforced errors, compared  with 17 from Johnny Monaco, who will face No3 sed Novak Djokovic in the second round – a fine reward.

2.59: Chardy breaks back, Chardy breaks back, halloo, halloo! (Sorry, I morphed into a football hooligan for a second there). Will we have another tie-break? It’s 5-5. Benneteau - Petzschner is about to start on No1 court.

2.47: Guez carves out another two match points but Stan saves them both but then very generously makes two totally unforced errors. Guez wins, allez les Bleus! 179 in the world, a qualifier (obviously, with a ranking like that!) and he made mincemeat of Stan the so-called Man. Wawrinka has had one decent game in the past 12 months, and he still lost that one (against Murray on Manic Monday at Wimbledon this year – Manic Monday so-called because they play all the Round of 16 matches from the men’s and women’s draw on the same day. They played under the roof – the only match to be totally under the roof after it was closed during Dinara safina’s comeback win over Amélie Mauresmo). Anyway, to resume. Guez good, Stan bad.

2.39: Second match point Guez, Wawrinka serves a let twice then saves the point but Davy G challenges. Unsuccesfully. Deuce. Stanislas the Wuss-islas stays alive by the skin of his teeth. Monaco meanwhile is 3-2 up with a break. Stan holds, it’s 5-4 but Guez will serve for the match after the changeover.

2.32: 5-3 Guez. Wawrinka looks like he’d rather be somewhere else. Which is quite convenient as he’ll be on holiday for the next two months as of 2.40 pm… Pfff. Get a grip, Stan!

2.28: Monaco sneaks past Chardy 8-6 in the tie-break. Guez holds, carves out a break point and takes it, despite a Hawk-eye challenge from Stan. All the Frenchie has to do now is serve out twice and he’s through to the second round to face La Monf, Gaël Monfils, in the third round.

2.17: Guez breaks back to make it 2-3, then Stan squanders a break point. D’oh. Chardy holds and we’re into a tie-break.

2.10: 6-5 Monaco, but we had an absolutely epic game of all the deuces on the Chardy serve which had Hawk-eyes, break points, disputed calls, the lot. Monaco then held comfortably, as if to say “that’s how you do it!” More to come now, with Chardy again serving to save the set?

On No1 court Guez served out to take the opener 6-3 but Stanislas the Manislas has broken and leads 3-1 in the second. He’s another whose career has plateaud. He was a mathematical possibility for the Masters coming here last year, but he’s languishing outside the top 20 now.

1.33: Jinx! Guez breaks Wawrinka to lead 4-2. Crucial seventh game coming up on the Frenchman’s service.

1.30: Stan and Dave (which makes them sound like a pair of London wide-boys) are managing to hold serve now, while Jezza Chardy has broken Johnny Monaco to lead 3-2. Ooh, and he’s about to hand it back: 15-40. Big serve out wide saves the first, serve and volley saves the second. Deuce. Chardy’s at 31 in the world, his highest ever ranking, and has really come on this year. He has his own team to back him up – Frédéric Fontang as coach, and then a whole backroom staff to keep him in peak fitness which he pays for himself – and it’s paying off this year.

1.15: Stan the Man breaks, Guez the Fez breaks back. Stan then carves out a 0-30 lead – what is this, WTA? Guez then gets the bit between his teeth, wins four in a row and lays down a marker by holding serve. Jérémy versus Juan is 1-1.

1.06: Two more games about to start – Chardy – Monaco on Centre, Wawrinka – Guez in a French-speaking derby on No1 court. David Guess and Johnny Monaco to serve.

12.42: Almagro carves out two break, set and match points which Chiudinelli saves, but the third time is the charm. Almagro wins 6-2 6-4 and will face none other than Rafael Nadal in the next round. Ay caramba. A fiery Spanish derby in prospect.

12.35: Davydenko is through, 6-2 6-1. A duck and a baguette (assuming that you’re willing to accept that a 0 is a bagel, I don’t see why we can’t have a baguette for a 6-1 and a canard à l’orange for a 2). Davy will face the winner of Söderling and Karlovic in the third round, and has already bagged another 30 points in the race for the Masters final in London. Should Verdasco or Gonzalez fail to win today, he’s through.

Almagro and Chiud’ meanwhile are locked at 4-4 in the second.

12.28: Almagro breaks back to 15 – as you do when you’ve been around the upper echelons of the circuit for nigh on a decade, as he has. His opponent Chiudinelli is the same age as the Fedster but has suffered from injuries throughout his career. Mr Davy Denko meanwhile is cruising, 5-1 up in the second.

12.12: Each court sees a break after the interminable deuces and then a hold to 30. And it’s Davydenko and… and… and… Chiudinelli who are 2-0 up!

12.02: Our two resident teutonophones are indeed fighting back. It’s been Advydenko and Admagro a dozen times, but Becker and Chiud’ keep getting it back to deuce.

And while we’re waiting for one or the other to hold or break, why not enter the caption competition? You can win the 2009 Roland Garros presentation book and also the catalogue with the film-star style portraits of over 80 top players, including the lovely Marat. The link’s here. I think I’m going to enter myself, either that or ask my colleague Delphine whether she has any spare copies of the books…

11.53: Whoosh, he’s up to No55 in the world, Chiudinelli, after making it through to the semis in his (and Roger Federer’s) home tournament of Basle last week. Not that he’s going to bag any points playing like this though – 6-2 Almagro as the Spaniard breaks and takes the opener. He lost the race though – the other Nick, Davydenko of that ilk, served out to 15 to 6-2 it over Becker on Centre Court. Can either of the German-speaker battle back? We shall find out in a minute or two’s time.

11.41: Set point for Kolya and he scampers around the court with gusto – like someone who’s season has been blighted by injury and who is desperate to make up for lost time, in fact – but B. Becker  II passes him with a beaut of a backhand that fades under the Russian’s outstretched racquet. Chiud. meanwhile has just carved out a break point – alleeeez, hopp Suisse! Ah no, viva Espana. Almagro aces and saves the day.

11.35: It’s as if Nikolay and Nicolas are twins – they broke at exactly the same moment. Almagro leads Chiudinelli 3-1, Davydenko leads Becker 4-1. The race is on – which Nick will take the first set first?

11.22: 2-2, 1-1 on the respective courts. Cagey stuff at the moment.

11.10: The players are out on court and warming up, and Kolya (the diminutive of Nikolay) has a Russian flag draped over one of the barriers to support him against B. Becker (the new one, not Boom Boom). Becker’s serving, as is Almagro against Marco Chiudinelli, who if he carries on his incredible run of late may soon overtake Stan Wawrinka as Switzerland’s No2.

10.45: Good morning, afternoon, evening (delete as applicable according to your time zone) and welcome to Super Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Masters here in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. And what have we got lined up for you today? Davydenko, Verdasco, Lopez, Nadal (in the doubles, no less, just like Del Potro and Gonzalez) then Tsonga and Simon in the evening.

The preview is here, you can listen to yesterday’s round-up of the day here, and for what it’s worth (about one euro 50, if that…) here are my predictions for the day:

Davydenko, Chiudinelli, Wawrinka (can you tell my wife and kids are Swiss?), Chardy, Benneteau (can you tell my elder son is French?), Verdasco, Lopez, Tsonga and Tsimon (though he might tstruggle against the tstrong tserving Croat Ivan Ljubicic). Write in below and let me know what you think, and feel free to tell me I’m talking rubbish (it has been known)…

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