French Open 2012 Schedule: Day 6 TV Coverage, Matches and Bracket Guide
Another day, another strong American player sent packing at the French Open.
No. 10-seeded John Isner found himself in yet another marathon match, this time coming up short against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 3-6, 18-16.
The match lasted five hours and 41 minutes—marking the second-longest match in the history of the event. The last set lasted a whopping two hours and 28 minutes.
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Other than that, there wasn’t anything terribly unique about day five at Roland Garros.
Every other men’s seed in the top 20 advanced, including No.4 Andy Murray, who dealt with painful back spasms throughout the day.
The women’s side of the bracket also went chalk, with only No. 16 Maria Kirilenko and No. 19 Jelena Jankovic enduring losses.
With so many big names remaining, this year’s French Open is shaping up to be an incredibly exciting as we enter the third round.
TV Schedule
| June 1 | 5 a.m. - 10 a.m. (Live) | Round 3 | ESPN2 |
| June 1 | 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. (Live) | Round 3 | Tennis Channel |
Notable Matches
Men’s
No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro vs. No. 21 Marin Cilic
Fun fact: del Porto is the only player ranked outside of the top three to win a Grand Slam in the last seven years.
An incredible feat, but his ’09 US Open win was a long time ago, and he needs to keep his focus against one of the biggest enigmas still in contention.
Cilic has plenty of talent, but is very mentally unstable on the court at times. Considering del Potro holds a 6-2 advantage in their head-to-head matchups, we all know who should win.
But del Porto’s rocky start at Roland Garros has me weary.
No. 11 Gilles Simon vs. No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka
We have arrived at the stage of the tournament where ranked players face off, and Friday provides us with a doozy here.
Simon is fresh off one of the most exciting matches of the tournament, a 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 1-6, 6-0 win over Brian Baker that gives you mixed feelings about the Frenchmen.
He can clearly be dominant at times with his remarkable return game, but seems to lose focus at times, which allows opponents to catch up to him.
Wawrinka is an incredible strong player who tends to out-muscle his opponents. He can’t afford to cough up 14 unforced errors again like he did last round against Pablo Andujar.
Women‘s
No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. No. 26 Svetlana Kuznetsova
Radwanska is red hot right now.
She won her first set against Venus Williams in a ridiculous 28 minutes and never looked back. The 23-year-old Polish star has won three titles this season and looks primed to make a strong push to get past the quarterfinals for the first time ever in a Grand Slam event.
Kuznetsova, winner of the 2009 French Open, is a formidable opponent, but hasn’t played great tennis in quite some time now. Expect Radwanska to win in straight sets.
No. 13 Ana Ivanovic vs. No. 21 Sara Errani
Ivanovic won the French Open back in 2008, but hasn’t done a whole lot since.
Yet, after a rocky start in 2012, Ivanovic is playing her best tennis in a long time. After her 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of Shahar Peer, everything seems to be clicking right now. She sports a very impressive 31-10 record on the year.
Expect her to breeze against Errani, who has never beaten Ivanovic in her career.
Here are two potential matchups that could have a different outcome than expected because of recent postponements.
Men’s
Quarterfinals: No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Tsonga had the unfortunate task of dealing with rain in his second-round win, and it will be interesting to see if having to play on consecutive days will end up costing him a shot to advance at Roland Garros.
The physical pounding a tennis player’s body takes is bad enough when matches go as planned, but with the rainout on Wednesday, expect him to get crushed by Djokovic…if he makes it to next week.
Women’s
Third Round: No. 2 Maria Sharapova vs. No. 28 Shuai Peng
Sharapova is another victim of having to play on consecutive days, but her delay wasn’t due to rain.
With the ridiculous length of the Isner-Mathieu match, Sharapova’s second-round match against Ayumi Morita was pushed back to Friday, with her third round match taking place on Saturday if she advances.
This is where we see the endurance of one of the favorites.
If she enters Saturday’s match against the streaking Peng exhausted, this match could turn into one of the biggest upsets in the entire tournament.
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