Well the rain which had threatened the early days here did indeed fall today, but all but a few were left unaffected. Only Rafa was delayed and – let’s face it – he won’t be halted by the weather.
MEN
I had earlier reported Stan Wawrinka ‘doing well’ against Garcia-Lopez. At one point he was two sets to one up after an injury flare up but ultimately that knee proved not 100% and the big man was out.
Other big names to fall were David Ferrer and Philip Kohlschreiber. The man we all love to hate, Bernard Tomic is also out, beaten by the story of this opening round: Marco Trungelitti, the lucky loser won in four after driving 9 hours from Barcelona the night before after a late call up. In what might be his last appearance here Marcos Baghdatis retired from two sets up.
Plain sailing for alot of other big names though; Thiem, Gulbis, Simon, Bautista-Agut, Coric, Querrey and Schwartzman all won.
WOMEN
Mladenovic, Azarenka and Babos all exited in shock results. Despite the more illustrious opponent in Petkovic, Mladenovic’s ousting will hog the headlines but Babos was in better form so is the bigger surprise.
No dramas for Wozniacki, Osaka, Vandeweghe, Pliskova, Keyes, former finalist Safarova or Suarez-Navarro.
Petra Kvitova DID struggle but is safely through.
Will see you tomorrow Paris.
All Things Tennis 