Seren Williams (Fergal Carr, Wikimedia Commons)
The first round of the 2012 French Open is now concluded and the most intriguing match was actually thee final one scheduled.
Home-country favourite Virgine Razzano of France delivered a remarkable comeback and then needed every shot available she had at her disposal to upset Serena Williams of the United States 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Williams was leading Razzano at one time 5-1 in the second set tie-break, before she lost the next six points.
There are a couple of remarkable statistics from the match. This is the first time in 47 Grand Slams that Serena Williams lost in the first round. Also, only two of 11 Americans lost in the first round, with the other being Jamie Hampton, who lost 6-4, 4-3 before retiring to young Dutch tennis sensation Arantxa Rus.
But an image I will remember from the match is that Williams actually cried after losing the second set. Williams has 13 Grand Slam titles and 41 titles overall. Is one loss at the French in the first round when she is a multi-millionaire (net worth is $85 million) something to cry over?
On the Canadian tennis scene, Vasek Pospisil and Stephanie Dubois lost their respective first round matches, while Milos Raonic and Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to round two. Raonic, ranked 19th, defeated Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo quite handily yesterday in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, while Aleksandra Wozniak of Montreal defeated fellow Canadian Heidi El Tabakh of Toronto 7-5, 6-2.
I have contacted Tennis Canada to find out if this was the first time two Canadians have played each other in a Grand Slam event, but nobody from the organization has got back to me yet.
Tomorrow, Wozniak plays China’s Jie Zheng, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist (2008 at Wimbledon and 2010 at the Australian Open) in the second round.
Tags: aleksandra wozniak, arantxa rus, french open, heidi el tabakh, jamie hampton, jie zheng, milos raonic, serena williams, virgine razzano
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