Saturday, May 23, 2009

Live - French Open

Ana Ivanovic

Live French Open - Errani v Ivanovic

LIVE TEXT COMMENTARY (all times BST)
606: DEBATE
Your thoughts on the action

To get involved text us on 81111 with TENNIS before your message. (Not all contributions can be used; UK mobiles only; network rates apply)

By Piers Newbery

1045: Johansson wraps up the first set 6-2 against Diatchenko, but Ivanovic is already involved in quite a battle at 3-3. The defending champion has struggled over the last year with both form and injuries and is not widely expected to retain her title, but she could do without this an hour into the tournament. Aussie battler Lleyton Hewitt is 4-4 against enormous Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

1038: Away from the current action for a moment, a quick rundown of the latest random trivia - Ana Ivanovic has chosen the Kings of Leon as her pre-match inspiration this year; Rafael Nadal lost an exhibition set 7-5 against Argentinian world number 109 Brian Dabul yesterday; Andy Roddick informs us via twitter that after a hit this morning he will be visiting the Parisian catacombs; and Britons Anne Keothavong and Katie O'Brien were out having a practice on Court Philippe Chatrier early this morning.

1032: Ivanovic has just hit one of the worst serves I've ever seen, shanking it straight over the baseline, and she then tanks a drive volley into the net to drop serve. The Serbian still leads 3-2. In the race for the first 'W' of the tournament, France's Mathilde Johansson is the front runner as she leads Vitalia Diatchenko 5-1.

1027: Ivanovic has made a good start here and breaks Errani with a fabulous forehand return for 3-1. Fear not, all those of you asking about Murray v Chela, we will be switching our Red Button/streaming coverage to Court Suzanne Lenglen as and when the Scot begins his match.

1024: "Oooh la la! I cannot contain my excitement. Slams have a special flavour, the bbc showing the matches online, the weather is great and i sense this slam will throw up some suprises-cough- federer-cough. Perfect times!"
From Shahra, Bristol via text on 8111

1024: "Hi piers it's craig from birmingham. Mauresmo will reach the semis with the pressure off. What matches are on bbci?"
From anon via text

1022: "Good news for Murray with the weather, ball and surface will be relatively quick so should he should be fine."
From Stuart on 606

1020: Rest assured I will be giving you my half-baked opinion on exactly what will unfold over the next two weeks, but if you are able to view video you can get the thoughts of former world number four Greg Rusedski. That will just have to do for now...
"Rusedski on the 'big four'

1015: Ivanovic wins the first game on serve against Errani. There are no other big names in action yet, apart from the text commentator's nightmare - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Thank the lord for copy and paste.

1013: A quick word on the BBC coverage coming your way - we will be live texting every day, while at the same time streaming the action (usually from the main Court Philippe Chatrier) on the website for those of you who insist on actually watching the tennis. You can go the whole hog and access it via the Red Button, on what I believe are still called 'televisions', and Radio 5 Live will have regular updates.


1009: We are officially up and running as Ivanovic wins the opening point against Errani.

The sun is out
1004: The good news is that the sun is out in Paris, which is fortunate as they're lagging behind in the roof stakes. We should be seeing Andy Murray in action later against Juan Ignacio Chela, I'm guessing some time after 1500 BST, but who knows? Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt are also starting their campaigns today.

0959: First up this morning is the defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic against Sara Errani, and the players are now out on a sun-drenched Court Phillipe Chatrier. In traditional French Open style, the arrival of the two players has pretty much doubled the numbers on the stadium court.

0952: Morning all, and welcome to day one of the 2009 French Open. If you are enjoying a typical Sunday morning in Paris I imagine you are sitting down with a croissant, a cafe au lait, a copy of Le Figaro and an impossibly beautiful life partner. Here in Shepherds Bush it's more a case of a bacon sarnie, own-brand tea, a selection of red tops and a couple of bleary-eyed colleagues. Tant pis, tant pis....
ะพ 11:52 PM

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