Day 9 of the French Open is in the books, with one match still not done and suspended due to darkness. That match would be the Men’s Round of 16 encounter between Andy Murray and Viktor Troicki, which will resume tomorrow with the start of the fifth set. Troicki controlled the first two sets, perhaps capitalizing on Murray’s sore ankle, but the Scot got back into the match, winning sets three and four to level the match before play was suspended.
French Open 2011: Gael Monfils Defeats David Ferrer in Five Sets; Rafael Nadal And Maria Sharapova Advance
The highlight of the day was the resumption of the match between David Ferrer, a clay court expert, and Gael Monfils, the local favorite. With Ferrer up a break in the fourth as play resumed, Monfils appeared to take it a bit easy in the beginning, content to let the match go to a fifth set. When that fifth set came, Monfils upped the intensity and pounced on his opponent.
Monfils broke early in the set and as a result, served for the match up 5-3 in the set. The Frenchman won the first two points of the game thanks to impressive serves, then had two match points when he pushed it to 40-15. However, Monfils put weak shots into the net on the next two points, then proceeded to lose the game, bringing Ferrer back into the match.
The Frenchman would recover, though, winning on his serve at 6-6, then breaking Ferrer at love in the final game to win the right to face Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Monfils made his road to this point much more difficult than it had to be, but he got the result in the end.
Elsewhere, favorites Rafael Nadal, Li Na, and Maria Sharapova all advanced to the quarterfinals.
Court Phillipe Chatrier
No. 6 Li Na def. No. 9 Petra Kvitova, 2-6 6-1 6-3
No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. Ivan Ljubicic, 7-5 6-3 6-3
No. 5 Robin Soderling def. No. 18 Gilles Simon, 6-2 6-3 7-6 [7-5]
No. 7 Maria Sharapova def. No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6 [7-4] 7-5
Court Suzanne Lenglen
Juan Ignacio Chela def. Alejandro Falla 4-6, 6-2, 1-6 7-6 [7-5] 6-2
No. 4 Andy Murray vs. No. 15 Viktor Troicki, 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 Susp.
No. 9 Gael Monfils def. No. 7 David Ferrer 6-4 2-6 7-5 1-6 8-6
No. 4 Victoria Azarenka def. Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-3
Court 1
No. 1 Bryan/Bryan def. Gabashvili/Kukushkin 7-6 [8-6] 7-5
No. 5 Bopanna/Qureschi def. Golubev/Istomin 6-3 7-5
No. 7 Mirza/Vesnina def. No. 1 Dulko/Pennetta 6-0 7-5
No. 1 Srebotnik/Zimonjic def. No. 7 Benesova/Paes 7-6 [7-3] 6-3
No. 15 Petkovic def. No. 25 Kirilenko 6-2 2-6 6-4
Court 2
Cabal/Schwank def. Bracciali/Starace 6-4 4-6 6-2
Hlavackova/Hradecka def. No. 2 Peschke/Srebotnic 6-3 7-5
Dellacqua/Lipsky def. Uhlirova/Mertinak 7-6 [7-4] 7-6 [8-6]
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