2009 French Open


The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 113th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through June 7, 2009.
Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were the defending champions. Both failed to defend their titles, losing to Robin Söderling and Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round, respectively. Nadal's loss to Söderling was his first defeat in the tournament since debuting in 2005, and would remain his sole loss at the tournament until the 2015 French Open. Söderling proceeded to defeat Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando González on his way to the final, where he was defeated by Roger Federer. By winning the French Open, Federer equalled Pete Sampras' then-record of 14 Grand Slam titles, and completed his Career Grand Slam by winning the tournament; he had lost the previous three finals to Nadal. Svetlana Kuznetsova, the runner-up to Justine Henin-Hardenne in 2006, was the women's champion this year. She defeated World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the final, avenging a semi-final loss to the same opponent in 2008.

Notable stories

Rafael Nadal record winning streak, and loss to Robin Söderling

Entering the tournament, four-time champion Rafael Nadal was unbeaten in French Open singles matches, having won every match and tournament since his debut in 2005. His victory against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round on May 27 was his 30th consecutive win, breaking the record for the longest French Open winning streak by a man or woman, held by Chris Evert, who won 29 consecutive matches. Nadal extended the record to 31 consecutive matches by beating Lleyton Hewitt on May 29.
In his fourth round match on May 31, Nadal was defeated by World No. 23 Robin Söderling in four sets, 2–6, 7–6, 4–6, 6–7. The upset result ended Nadal's French Open winning streak at 31 matches. Söderling had never previously reached the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament, and had never previously beaten Nadal in three attempts, although he had taken him to five sets at Wimbledon in 2007. Söderling proceeded to reach the final, defeating Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets and Fernando González in five sets before losing to Roger Federer in his first Grand Slam final appearance.
Of the upset result, former three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander stated that "Everybody's in a state of shock, I would think. At some point, Nadal was going to lose. But nobody expected it to happen today, and maybe not this year. Now it's a matter of: There's a tournament to be won." Nadal would begin another streak the next year, and did not lose another match at the tournament until the 2015 French Open, when he lost to Novak Djokovic.

Maria Sharapova's comeback

After nearly a year out of the sport due to a serious shoulder injury which forced her to miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2008 US Open and her Australian Open title defence, Maria Sharapova, who started at World No. 53 by the time the entry list was released, then plummeted to as low as World No. 126 during her time away from the sport, entered the tournament ranked World No. 102 at the start of the tournament, and surprised many by reaching the quarter-finals, where she was defeated 6-0, 6-2 by Dominika Cibulková. Sharapova, unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2003, had won all of her first four matches in three sets.

Federer's Career Grand Slam

won the finals against Robin Söderling to finally win the French Open tournament for the first time in his career, after he was beaten in three previous finals by Nadal. With this win, he completed his career Grand Slam, titles in all four Grand Slam tournaments in his career. He became the third male player in the Open era and sixth male player in tennis history overall to accomplish the feat.

Singles players

;Men's Singles
;Women's Singles

Day-by-day summaries

Day 1 (May 24)

of Kazakhstan became the first male winner at this year's French Open. French favourites Julie Coin and Mathieu Montcourt enjoyed safe passages through to the second round, but compatriot Mathilde Johansson was unable to use the crowd's advantage, falling to Vitalia Diatchenko 2–6, 6–2, 10–8. Lleyton Hewitt came from 2 tiebreak sets down, taking a third set tiebreak and eventually the match over the 26th seeded Croat Ivo Karlović, winning 6–7, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 6–3, to cause the first upset of a seed in the tournament. Karlovic set the new record for the greatest number of aces in the match, serving 55, but couldn't find a way to win. French wildcard Josselin Ouanna came from two sets to one behind to defeat Marcel Granollers, 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 7–6, 6–1. However, Amélie Mauresmo lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–4, 6–3, to add to her history of early-round exits at Roland Garros. However, seventh seed Gilles Simon recovered from a tight clash with Wayne Odesnik, 4–6, 7–5, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. Former French Open champion Gastón Gaudio made a disappointing start to his grand slam comeback, losing in straight sets to Radek Štěpánek 6–3, 6–4, 6–1.
World number one and top seed Dinara Safina thrashed British Number one Anne Keothavong, 6–0, 6–0 in the first match on Philippe Chatrier, followed by ATP World Tour Champion and four-time defending champion, top seed Rafael Nadal defeating Brazilian qualifier Marcos Daniel 7–5, 6–4, 6–3. Second seed Roger Federer followed with a comfortable victory over Alberto Martín 6–4, 6–3, 6–2. Third seed Venus Williams struggled against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but won 6–1, 4–6, 6–2. French wildcard Guillaume Rufin, who turned 19 on day 3, upset Eduardo Schwank, who reached the second week last year, 6–1, 6–3, 6–3 to the delight of French fans. However, fans were disappointed to see their Nicolas Devilder fall in five sets to seventeenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, 6–3, 5–7, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. More disappointment came when Romain Jouan, another wildcard, fell 6–2, 6–4, 6–2 to sixth seed Andy Roddick. However, more good news for American fans followed when Fed Cup heroine Alexa Glatch stunned Flavia Pennetta 6–1, 6–1, to advance to the second round. Kateryna Bondarenko upset Patty Schnyder, and 13th seed Marion Bartoli recovered in an all-French affair to beat Pauline Parmentier 3–6, 6–1, 6–3. Two more French wild cards fell as Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova defeated Irena Pavlovic and Australian Jarmila Groth beat Kinnie Laisné. Seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Robin Söderling, and Zheng Jie also advanced. Another of the day's upsets came at the hands Colombia's Mariana Duque Mariño, who beat former Top 5 player and 26th seeded Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, winning 3–6, 6–4, 6–4.
s Jelena Janković and Novak Djoković had no problems in their first round matches, beating Petra Cetkovská and Nicolás Lapentti respectively. Serena Williams came through a tough tie – in which she squandered eight match points – against Czech Klára Zakopalová to win 6–3, 6–7, 6–4. All French seeds came through unscathed with victories for Marion Bartoli, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Gaël Monfils. The United States' hopes of having a French Open champion took a big blow as James Blake and Mardy Fish both lost to Argentinian opponents. Fish lost to Máximo González 6–3, 1–6, 6–4, 7–6, and Blake, the highest seed to fall on Day 3, was beaten convincingly by Argentinian qualifier Leonardo Mayer 7–6, 7–5, 6–2. Number 27 seed Rainer Schüttler was comprehensively beaten by home favourite Marc Gicquel 6–0, 6–0, 6–4 and Chinese number 31 seed Peng Shuai was the only women's seed to go out, as she lost to Spain's María José Martínez Sánchez 1–6, 6–2, 6–4. There were victories for 10th seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki, former finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva and World No. 5 Juan Martín del Potro.
Day 4 saw the start of the second round matches in both the men's and women's draws. The first match up on Court Philippe Chatrier was world number 3 Andy Murray, who he faced Italian world number 104 Potito Starace. Murray was made to work hard, as Starace took control of the tie and levelled the match at one set all. At 5–1 in the third set, Murray worked his way back to reel of 6 games in a row, and went on the win 6–3, 2–6, 7–5, 6–4. World number 1 Dinara Safina was first up on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and made light work of Vitalia Diatchenko, winning 6–1, 6–1. Defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic also won comprehensively, beating Tamarine Tanasugarn to enter the third round. French tennis fans had reason to cheer as number 15 seed Alizé Cornet resumed her match from day 3, and beat Maret Ani 6–4, 7–5 to advance to the second round. Another Frenchwoman, Aravane Rezaï beat Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog to book a tie with Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito in the third round, who beat number 15 seed Zheng Jie earlier in the day. Unseeded Maria Sharapova faced number 11 seed Nadia Petrova in her first match against a top 20 player since her 10-month absence from the tour due to injury. A gutsy Sharapova came through with a 3 sets victory, 8–6 in the third. Gilles Simon was the only seeded Frenchman playing on day 4, and made swift work of American Robert Kendrick 7–5, 6–0, 6–1. Defending champion Rafael Nadal made history by becoming the first person to win 30 consecutive matches at Roland Garros by beating Teymuraz Gabashvili. French wildcard Josselin Ouanna caused perhaps the biggest upset of the day by beating number 20 seed Marat Safin in an epic five set match, in which he won the final set 10–8.
The first matches of the doubles competition were played, with World No. 1 team Liezel Huber and Cara Black, Květa Peschke and Lisa Raymond, defending champions Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, and Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs were amongst the first to advance to the second round of the women's doubles.
On the men's side, defending champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna, Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes, Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett, and Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski all advanced to the second round. However, number 7 seeds Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi and number 10 seeds Marcelo Melo and André Sá suffered shock first-round defeats.

Day 5 (May 28)

Day 5 got off to a slow start from a French perspective, as number 13 seed and home favourite Marion Bartoli succumbed to Tathiana Garbin of Italy in straight sets on Court Philippe Chatrier. And the day got worse for France as number 21 seed Alizé Cornet could not find her way past Romanian teenager Sorana Cîrstea. However, they did have some consolation, as Virginie Razzano navigated her way past Anabel Medina Garrigues, and booked a place in the third round to play Bartoli conqueror Garbin. On Court Suzanne Lenglen, Serb Jelena Janković had little problem in seeing off Slovakian opponent Magdaléna Rybáriková, 6–1, 6–2. Venus Williams was made to work very hard to make the third round, as she went the distance with Lucie Šafářová, narrowly winning the final set 7–5. There were also victories for Elena Dementieva, Agnieszka Radwańska, former finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova and 2002 champion Serena Williams.
Meanwhile, in the men's draw, Roger Federer was first up on Court Philippe Chatrier as he faced clay court specialist José Acasuso. Roger narrowly won the first set 7–6 in a first set tie-break, but Acasuso was not ready to falter, and came back stronger in the second set and eventually winning 7–5. Acasuso continued to put up strong resistance and took Federer to a third set tie-break, however Federer was too strong and won, from thereon Federer had little problem dispatching Acasuso winning the match 7–6, 5–7, 7–6, 6–2. Federer's victory set him up with a third round tie with Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. After disappointed from the French ladies, the men did not disappoint. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gaël Monfils and Jérémy Chardy and Marc Gicquel all advanced to the third round. No seeds were knocked out, as there were victories from number 5 seed Juan Martín del Potro, Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Igor Andreev and Jürgen Melzer.
There was only one shocking exit from the men's doubles on the day, as Jeff Coetzee and Jordan Kerr were knocked out by the hands of Jaroslav Levinský and Igor Zelenay. Bob and Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić, Rik de Voest and Ashley Fisher, and Łukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach all secured places in the second round of the doubles.
There no upsets in the women's doubles, as all seeds made safe progress through to the second round including Serena and Venus Williams, and Květa Peschke and Lisa Raymond.
On day 5, the mixed doubles got under way, which saw just one upset. Nenad Zimonjić and Yan Zi fell to the hands of Bruno Soares and Alisa Kleybanova. Cara Black and Leander Paes, Lisa Raymond and Marcin Matkowski, Nadia Petrova and Max Mirnyi, and Elena Vesnina and Daniel Nestor all advanced to the second round.

Day 6 (May 29)

There were mixed French fortunes on Day 6. Aravane Rezaï beat Michelle Larcher de Brito to move into the fourth round. The newest French star, Josselin Ouanna, saw his run come to an end at the hands of 12th seeded Chilean Fernando González, 7–5, 6–3, 7–5. Following that, Gilles Simon, seeded 7th, suffered a collapse to 30th seed Victor Hănescu 6–4, 6–4, 6–2. Rafael Nadal, the four-time defending champion and World Number 1, looked in stellar form as he continued his undefeated run against Lleyton Hewitt, a former holder of the top ranking, 6–1, 6–3, 6–1. Stanislas Wawrinka was eliminated in four sets by tenth seeded Nikolay Davydenko, whilst Fernando Verdasco beat countryman Nicolás Almagro and Robin Söderling, the 23rd seed, set up a clash with Nadal by beating David Ferrer in four sets. Ágnes Szávay stunned third seed Venus Williams 6–0, 6–4, and Novak Djokovic beat Sergiy Stakhovsky. Additionally, defending champion Ana Ivanovic, Đoković's compatriot, advanced convincingly over Iveta Benešová, seeded 32nd, 6–0, 6–2. Andy Murray led Janko Tipsarević two sets to love before the Serb retired.

Day 7 (May 30)

Day 8 (May 31)

Day 8 saw Rafael Nadal lose his first ever match at French Open to Swede Robin Söderling, which ended his streak of 31 wins in a row at Roland Garros. Also out was defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic. Former world number 1 Maria Sharapova continued her miraculous run by defeating Li Na 6–4, 0–6, 6–4 to reach the quarterfinals, after returning from nine months away from the game. Nikolay Davydenko beat Fernando Verdasco to advance to the quarters with Söderling. Fernando González beat Victor Hănescu in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal with number four Andy Murray, a winner over Marin Čilić in tight but straight sets. World Number 1 Dinara Safina continued her dominant run of losing just 5 games all tournament against Aravane Rezaï, winning 6–1, 6–0.

Day 9 (June 1)

Day 10 (June 2)

Day 11 (June 3)

Day 12 (June 4)

Day 13 (June 5)

Day 14 (June 6)

Day 15 (June 7)

The men's singles final was briefly interrupted as Jimmy Jump carrying a FC Barcelona banner ran onto the court during the second set, running around Roger Federer and even putting a cap on him, then jumping over the net before being taken out by security. This is the first time this has ever happened at the French Open, however the occurrence did not seem to throw off Federer, as he won the set, and eventually the match. Federer also completed a career Grand Slam and tied Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles after winning the French Open.

Finals

Men's singles

Roger Federer defeated Robin Söderling, 6–1, 7–6, 6–4
Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina, 6–4, 6–2
Lukáš Dlouhý / Leander Paes defeated Wesley Moodie / Dick Norman, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Anabel Medina / Virginia Ruano Pascual defeated Victoria Azarenka / Elena Vesnina, 6–1, 6–1
Liezel Huber / Bob Bryan defeated Vania King / Marcelo Melo, 5–7, 7–6, 10–7

Juniors

Boys' singles

Daniel Berta defeated Gianni Mina, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3

Girls' singles

Kristina Mladenovic defeated Daria Gavrilova, 6–3, 6–2

Boys' doubles

Marin Draganja / Dino Marcan defeated Guilherme Clezar / Huang Liang-chi, 6–3, 6–2

Girls' doubles

Elena Bogdan / Noppawan Lertcheewakarn defeated Tímea Babos / Heather Watson, 3–6, 6–3, 10–8

Other events

Legends under 45 doubles

Paul Haarhuis / Cédric Pioline defeated Pat Cash / Emilio Sánchez, 6–3, 6–4

Legends over 45 doubles

Anders Järryd / John McEnroe defeated Mansour Bahrami / Henri Leconte, 7–6, 6–1

Wheelchair men's singles

Shingo Kunieda defeated Stéphane Houdet, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3

Wheelchair women's singles

Esther Vergeer defeated Korie Homan, 6–2, 7–5

Wheelchair men's doubles

Stéphane Houdet / Michaël Jeremiasz defeated Robin Ammerlaan / Maikel Scheffers, 6–2, 7–5

Wheelchair women's doubles

Korie Homan / Esther Vergeer defeated Annick Sevenans / Aniek van Koot, 6–2, 6–3

Seeds

Withdrawals: David Nalbandian, Richard Gasquet, Katarina Srebotnik, Vera Zvonareva.

Men's singles">2009 French Open – Men's Singles">Men's singles

  1. Rafael Nadal '
  2. Roger Federer
  3. Andy Murray '
  4. Novak Djoković '
  5. Juan Martín del Potro '
  6. Andy Roddick '
  7. Gilles Simon '
  8. Fernando Verdasco '
  9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga '
  10. Nikolay Davydenko
  11. Gaël Monfils '
  12. Fernando González '
  13. Marin Čilić '
  14. David Ferrer '
  15. James Blake '
  16. Tommy Robredo '
  17. Stanislas Wawrinka '
  18. Radek Štěpánek '
  19. Tomáš Berdych '
  20. Marat Safin '
  21. Dmitry Tursunov '
  22. Mardy Fish '
  23. Robin Söderling '
  24. Jürgen Melzer '
  25. Igor Andreev '
  26. Ivo Karlović '
  27. Rainer Schüttler '
  28. Feliciano López '
  29. Philipp Kohlschreiber '
  30. Victor Hănescu '
  31. Nicolás Almagro '
  32. Paul-Henri Mathieu '

    Women's singles">2009 French Open – Women's Singles">Women's singles

  33. Dinara Safina '
  34. Serena Williams '
  35. Venus Williams '
  36. Elena Dementieva '
  37. Jelena Janković '
  38. Vera Zvonareva '
  39. Svetlana Kuznetsova
  40. Ana Ivanovic '
  41. Victoria Azarenka '
  42. Caroline Wozniacki '
  43. Nadia Petrova '
  44. Agnieszka Radwańska '
  45. Marion Bartoli '
  46. Flavia Pennetta '
  47. Zheng Jie '
  48. Amélie Mauresmo '
  49. Patty Schnyder '
  50. Anabel Medina Garrigues '
  51. Kaia Kanepi '
  52. Dominika Cibulková '
  53. Alizé Cornet '
  54. Carla Suárez Navarro '
  55. Alisa Kleybanova '
  56. Aleksandra Wozniak '
  57. Li Na '
  58. Anna Chakvetadze '
  59. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova '
  60. Sybille Bammer '
  61. Ágnes Szávay '
  62. Samantha Stosur '
  63. Peng Shuai '
  64. Iveta Benešová

    Wildcard entries

Below are the lists of the wildcard awardees entering in the main draws.

Men's singles wildcard entries

  1. Gastón Gaudio
  2. Romain Jouan
  3. Adrian Mannarino
  4. Josselin Ouanna
  5. Laurent Recouderc
  6. Guillaume Rufin
  7. Alexandre Sidorenko
  8. Bernard Tomic

    Women's singles wildcard entries

  9. Lauren Embree
  10. Claire Feuerstein
  11. Kinnie Laisné
  12. Émilie Loit
  13. Kristina Mladenovic
  14. Irena Pavlovic
  15. Olivia Rogowska
  16. Olivia Sanchez

    Men's doubles wildcard entries

  17. Julien Benneteau / Nicolas Mahut
  18. Sébastien de Chaunac / Benoît Paire
  19. Sébastien Grosjean / Nicolás Lapentti
  20. Jérôme Haehnel / Florent Serra
  21. Michaël Llodra / Fabrice Santoro
  22. Mathieu Montcourt / Édouard Roger-Vasselin
  23. Josselin Ouanna / Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

    Women's doubles wildcard entries

  24. Dominika Cibulková / Virginie Razzano
  25. Stéphanie Foretz / Camille Pin
  26. Violette Huck / Laura Thorpe
  27. Viktoriya Kutuzova / Aravane Rezaï
  28. Kinnie Laisné / Stéphanie Vongsouthi
  29. Sophie Lefèvre / Aurélie Védy
  30. Émilie Loit / Kristina Mladenovic

    Mixed doubles wildcard entries

  31. Séverine Brémond Beltrame / Robert Lindstedt
  32. Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro / Thierry Ascione
  33. Julie Coin / Nicolas Mahut
  34. Pauline Parmentier / Marc Gicquel
  35. Camille Pin / Gilles Simon
  36. Aurélie Védy / Josselin Ouanna

    Qualifiers entries

Men's Singles

  1. Fabio Fognini
  2. Leonardo Mayer
  3. Marcos Daniel
  4. Victor Crivoi
  5. Ilija Bozoljac
  6. Daniel Brands
  7. Jean-René Lisnard
  8. Santiago Giraldo
  9. Sergiy Stakhovsky
  10. Simon Greul
  11. Peter Polansky
  12. Franco Ferreiro
  13. Łukasz Kubot
  14. Santiago Ventura
  15. Jiří Vaněk
  16. Rui Machado
;Lucky Losers
  1. Thiago Alves
  2. Mathieu Montcourt

    Women's Singles

  3. Yaroslava Shvedova
  4. Zuzana Ondrášková
  5. Anastasija Sevastova
  6. Polona Hercog
  7. Chanelle Scheepers
  8. Vitalia Diatchenko
  9. Michelle Larcher de Brito
  10. Arantxa Rus
  11. Corinna Dentoni
  12. Yvonne Meusburger
  13. Petra Martić
  14. Carly Gullickson
;Lucky Losers
  1. Katie O'Brien
  2. Mariana Duque Mariño

    Protected ranking

The following players have been accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:
; Men's Singles
; Women's Singles
;Men's Singles
;Women's Singles
In the US, coverage was provided by The Tennis Channel. In France, the French Open is broadcast live by France Télévisions and Eurosport. In the UK and Republic of Ireland it is broadcast live by BBC and Eurosport, Irish viewers can also watch live on TG4. In Switzerland it is broadcast live by SF, Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana and Télévision Suisse Romande. In Serbia, it is broadcast live by RTS and Eurosport. In Sweden, it is broadcast live by Eurosport and SVT also broadcast the men's final live.