French Open, Second Round: Gael Monfils Ousted, Andys (Roddick And Murray) Advance

Sacre bleu: one of France’s favored sons became the first major seed to fall at the French Open during late action Thursday night. No. 13 Gael Monfils blew a two-sets-to-none lead over Italian Fabio Fognini, who prevailed 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 in a match marred by numerous rain delays. Indeed, Monfils and Fognini were forced to finish their match in near darkness -- but only after Monfils asked for them to be allowed to play into the dusk. Despite the fact that Fognini initially refused to continue playing as the visibility deteriorated, he was able to take advantage and get the break he needed to win. As Yahoo!‘s Chris Chase notes, by the end, twilight had settled in such that:

It was so dark outside that the Shot Spot technology wasn’t working because there were no shadows with which to gauge the positioning of the ball.

In other action, No. 4 Andy Murray prevailed in four sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, over Argentine Juan Chela, while No. 6 Andy Roddick vanquished Slovenian Blaz Kavcic in four sets as well, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. For Roddick, advancing to the third round at Roland Garros marks his second-best career showing at the tournament, behind only his march to the fourth-round last year. Roddick joins fellow hard-serving American John Isner in the third round of a tournament whose surface has often proved quite treacherous for the Americans.