Williams sisters win in sync

As we are only an hour or so away from the first ball being struck with meaning on Day 6 of Roland Garros 2016, I'd better pass some comments on Day 5 proceedings.

Top seed Novak Djokovic and his prospective semi final stumbling block, fourth seed Rafa Nadal, did to their second round opponents precisely what they did in the first round to those poor souls.  They took the minimum three sets with which to dismiss them.  Names for those interested in Paris refuse were Belgian Steve Darcis and Argentine Facundo Bagnis.

Not a good day for those with surnames beginning with Bag, with long time favourite Marcos Baghdatis losing a marathon five setter to an even bigger favourite around these parts, sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tsonga gave the Cypriot a two set start, just to prove to Andy Murray that he is not the only one with comeback skills.

Serena and Venus took the sister act to new lengths, both winning on the same court, and using the same 6-2 6-1 scoreline to eliminate Brazil's Teljana Pereira and fellow American Louisa Chirico respectively.

All the other mens seeds won through, either in three or four sets, except for 20th seed Aussie Bernard Tomic and Portugal's 26th seed Joao Sousa. (not to be confused with, but always confused with Brazil's Joao Souza, world ranked 189)

Tomic was disappointing, seeming to drop his guard in places after taking the opening set.  Even down two sets to one, he had a terrific opportunity to force a fifth set decider when leading 6-5 in the fourth set tie breaker.  However, with his two serves to come he lost both points, and Croatian Borna Coric served out the set and match.  The 19 year old showed the poise expected of the more experienced Australian, and now Tomic had better lift for the limited grass court season for which he has been impatiently waiting.

Apart from the Williams sisters, Bacsinsky, Keys, Suarez Navarro and Ivanovic were especially impressive with their straight sets performances, while Cibulkova continues her fine clay court form despite dropping the second set against Ana Konjuh from Croatia.  Domi was mad at herself and redemption was to be found in the deciding set, won 6-0.

Not wanting to be seen as one match wonders, Kiki Bertens and Karin Knapp followed up their unexpected wins over Kerber and Azarenka, with straight set wins to shoot them both into the third round.

Disappointment for German hopeful and 28th seed Andrea Petkovic, who lost to one of the very few players representing Kazakhstan, Yulia Putintseva.

Day 6 will feature two Australians on Court Philippe Chatrier - second match is between two former RG runners-up, Samantha Stosur (2010) and Lucie Safarova (2015).  Safarova had a terrible 2016 until Prague a month ago, where she beat Stosur in the final and turned her season around.  Both players are in good touch this week so that should be entertaining.

Then possibly the match of the tournament to date - Richard Gasquet v Nick Kyrgios.

Both players in great form, the crowd loving the French player, but still reserving some applause for the Aussie.  Nick has yet to beat Richard on clay but he did win the last match (on hard court), on the way to his first title in Marseille.

Can Kyrgios defeat the French star on French soil for a second time in 2016 ?

The question may have already been answered by the time you read this.

Andy in five for a second time

Andy Murray scared the living daylights out of his family, friends and fans at Roland Garros on Day 4, which is something he has been doing ever since he arrived in Paris as one of this year's favourites to win the French Open.  Well his displays haven't exactly provided much material evidence to suggest the winner's trophy will be in his hands come next Sunday.

Yet again, he found himself having to win the final two sets to escape embarrassment, this time in the form of a second round exit at the hands of French player Mathias Bourgue, ranked 164, but contributing a performance worthy of a much higher rating.

Still Andy is in the third round, albeit a bit battered and bruised from all the effort asked of him, and desperate for a shorter method to reach the round of sixteen.  Fortunately his next opponent was also on court in his second round match for five sets.  Ivo Karlovic won 12-10 in that elongated decider, and the shattered loser was Australian Jordan Thompson. who had won two of the three tie breakers required before entering the finale.  One thing Andy will be liking is Ivo's desire to decide points quickly, because extended rallies are at the centre of the number two seed's worst nightmares at present.

Gilles Simon was one French favourite who used the five sets to make a monumental comeback.  Down 6-4 6-1 and not looking the best in Set three against Argentine Guido Pella, the crowd stuck with Simon and helped carry him over the line, winning the final three sets.

Gilles was a highlight on a not so good day for France with Caroline Garcia ousted by a sharp second seed Aga Radwanska in straight sets.  While Garcia going was not an upset,  the departure of Lucas Pouille was, especially the nature of his loss in only three sets to Slovak Andrej Martin, ranked 133 in the world.  Pouille has improved his ranking this year through wins over some top players and consistent tournament performances, and was expected to take more advantage of his number 29 seed.

Mannarino was no match for Raonic, crushed in straight sets, but France was hoping for more from 19th seed Benoit Paire, whose Roland Garros adventure was over thanks to a four set disaster caused by Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.

The local crowd did have plenty to cheer about late in the day, even if there wasn't a French player involved in this match.  For over three and a half hours they witnessed the finest women's singles contest yet at this year's tournament.

American Coco Vandeweghe took the opening set, somewhat surprisingly, against 25th seed Irina-Camelia Begu from Romania.  Begu had been my pre tournament pick to reach the quarters at the expense of Vinci (gone first round), Pliskova (gone first round) and Kvitova (still around and looking ok).  So with Coco a set up and her big serve and neat volleys causing issues for Begu, my tip was in peril.

Then it was the turn of Irina-Camelia to demonstrate using her large box of tricks, and her subtle placement, and ability to accelerate through her ground strokes more than she makes it appear, slightly trumped the power advantage of the American.

After two sets it was a tie break apiece.

No service breaks in the final set until the ninth game when Coco lifted her game.  However Irina-Camelia did likewise when at 5-4 Coco served for the match but was broken right back.  The tennis was of a consistently high standard for round two, and the seeded player, Begu, eventually broke through with her second match point, taking her place in the third round with a 6-7 7-6 10-8 victory

Most of the other women's matches were straight sets wins, with the top seeds and favourites winning through, including Muguruza, Halep, Kvitova, Safarova and Stephens.

Similarly for the men with Wawrinka, Nishikori, Isner, Kyrgios, and a couple of Frenchmen to balance the ledger a bit, Gasquet and Chardy.

Andy Murray may have some temporary respite but his quarter final could be problematic given the form of Nishikori, Gasquet and Kyrgios.  Any of those is his likely opposition in the last eight.

Gasquet plays Kyrgios and the winner of that will be the round of sixteen opponent for Nishikori who should beat Verdasco next up.  Whoever wins that is in the quarter final against Murray if the Scot keeps winning which is highly likely despite his rocky start.

So no guarantees for even the very best players on the Paris clay as we approach quickly the start of Day 5.

No rain but Vika's pain

Day three of the French Open and Serena must have selected the right prayers because all the pieces were falling into place for her at Roland Garros.  An easy first round win, and her prospective quarter and semi final opponents both gone before we could say bonjour.  Not that we would since there has hardly been a good day's weather all week.

Vika Azarenka, doing her best to overcome a back injury, was forced to surrender to a leg problem against Italian Karin Knapp.  Vika courageously fought the odds to win a second set tie breaker and level the match, but she could barely walk, and pulled the pin at 0-4 in the third,

Not that I had predicted her to reach that point, but Angie Kerber was nevertheless seeded at three to be a semi finalist against Serena Williams, the player she vanquished in the Aus Open final in January.  However, Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands ousted the German in three sets, clearing further the path for Serena, and in the process registering her first success against a top five player.

Andy Murray finally escaped the clutches of 37 year old Czech tormenter Radek Stepanek, but it took 12 games into the fifth set before the second seed claimed a second round spot.  Even Dominic Thiem,  Nadal's likely fourth round opponent, looked less than convincing at a set all and a break down in the third, before flicking a switch and finishing all over the top of Spain's Inigo Cervantes.

Nadal himself thrashed Aussie Sam Groth, losing just three games across three sets.  Djokovic was almost as frugal against Yen-Hsun Lu, giving up just six games on the way to round two.

Others to shine in the mostly drab, but at least dry conditions were Tsonga, Ferrer, Berdych, Goffin and Isner, while surprise losses were experienced by South African Kevin Anderson (to the cheers of the French crowd and the racquet of French player Stephane Robert) and German Philipp Kohlschreiber to Soain's Nicolas Almagro.

Good wins also to Venus Williams, Bacsinszky, Cibulkova, Keys, Ivanovic, Cornet and Petkovic.   Disappointment for number 20 seed Johanna Konta, beaten by German Julia Goerges, semi finalist in last weeks Nurnberg event.

More great tennis on offer on day four with Wawrinka, Murray, Raonic, Halep, Radwanska, and Muguruza all featuring.  And the Williams sisters playing doubles.

Rainy Paris - with a few tennis interruptions

We have seen the completion of two days of play at Roland Garros, or more correctly 2 days of rain interrupted periodically with some tennis.

Out of the racquet exchanges, it has become clear that defence of his title is not just going to be difficult for Stan Wawrinka come the second week - it's monumental from the very first ball toss !  Czech big hitter Lukas Rosol challenged the Swiss third seed big time in the first round encounter, leading two sets to one, before the escape was made by a relieved Stan.  So the expected semi final against Murray is still pencilled in our calendars.

Andy, however, lost his opening two sets of the tournament to enigmatic Radak Stepanek, another Czech representative whose mission in round one was to cause mayhem.  The second seeded Murray has yet to finish his comeback which sees him trailing two sets to one but leading 4-2 and serving next in the fourth set at close of play.  Odds are with the Scot winning in five but if he and Wawrinka are symptomatic of what may be dished up over the next fortnight, then this could throw out a number of pre tournament forecasts.

I thought one of my selected semi finalists was ready to exit the women's draw when Garbine Muguruza dropped her first set.  The fourth seed steadied though and won in three against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

Seeds not so adept in executing round one survival skills, and now looking for something to occupy their time while in Paris - there are plenty of museums and great places to eat that I can recommend - are Italian number 16 and former runner-up Sara Errani, losing to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, and Czech number 17 Karolina Pliskova, dumped by American Shelby Rogers after winning the first set.

To the growing bonfire of losing seeds we can add number 32 Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, whose conqueror was Japan's Naomi Osaka.  Also gone is the highest seed to fall so far - Roberta Vinci.  The question was not if the 7th seed would lose, but how soon, because her season has been wretched to say the least.  To see her bow out first up to Kateryna Bondarenko was another sad page in the Vinci story for 2016, which starkly contrasts where she was travelling after her semi final win over Serena Williams in the US Open last year.

USA's Steve Johnson was seeded 33 after the 28th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov withdrew following the release of the draw.  However, the unusual seed number lasted but a day, as the American dream was dashed in straight sets by Fernando Verdasco, whose love for the clay is more advanced than Steves.

2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, 10th seed, and Geneva runner-up a few days ago, was the other men's seed to fall in the first two days in Paris, and the biggest tournament shock so far.  His exit was facilitated by Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti, ranked 166 with a win/loss record on the ATP Tour this year of 1-2 and on the Challenger Tour of 5-4.  The upset occurred in four sets, convincingly.

Those top male players to have impressed in their first round matches include Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori, French pair Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon, and Canadian Milos Raonic, all sweeping their matches in straight sets.  Doing it the hard way, via the whole five sets were lower seeds Jack Sock and Victor Troicki, the latter outlasting the always promising but not often delivering Grigor Dimitrov.

The women who wasted no time making their mark on the clay were headed by sixth seed Simona Halep and second seed Aga Radwanska, the pair now one step closer to meeting in an exciting quarter final.  Halep won 6-2 6-0 over Japan's Nao Hibino, Radwanska 6-0 6-2 over Serbian Bojana Jovanovski.

Joining Aga on the 6-0 6-2 scoreline was last year's runner-up Lucie Safarova whose Russian victim was Vitalia Diatchenko.

Sloane Stephens and Barbora Strycova made straight sets statements at the expense of Russian Margarita Gasparyan and the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka respectively, which suggested that their form of 2016 could very well continue far in this event.

One of my outside chances, 25th seed Irina-Camelia Begu, dropped her opening set but sorted her game out promptly to stay alive in the tournament.  American Bethanie Mattek-Sands proved a tough opponent, as she does more often than not at the Grand Slam tournaments, no matter what the ranking comparisons may be.

So after two rainy days, although we still haven't seen Novak, Serena, Rafa, Angie or Vika, there has been lots to relish and plenty to talk about, with Andy Murray's fate still to be determined.

Roland Garros - what I expect

Roland Garros 2016 is scheduled to start in a matter of hours, weather permitting, and I am probably the last person to put forward my predictions for what may occur over the next two weeks.  So that will be what follows.

Before the crystal ball analysis, results from the four tour events - WTA Nurnberg was won by Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands over Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino.  The home crowd was disappointed that the two German players left were defeated in the semis, preventing a fairy tale tournament ending.  However for Kiki her win was a form boost coming into a tough first round Roland Garros clash with Angie Kerber.

In Strasbourg, it was a win for the home country when Caroline Garcia denied Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the final.  Considering her lack of clay court form this year, Garcia's victory couldn't be better timed as she moves west to do battle in Paris.

Stan Wawrinka may be smarter than we all thought.  He has had a rather forgettable 2016 for someone supposedly part of the "Big 5".  However as reigning Roland Garros champ, his win overnight in Geneva, overcoming Cilic in the final, may just have clicked him into shape for a legitimate shot at defending his title in Paris.

Dominic Thiem defended his Nice crown with a three set win over Alexander Zverev in the final there, and both must be fancying their chances of deep runs in the Roland Garros draw.

Now for the French Open (Roland Garros) preview:

Women's Singles

Serena Williams is the defending champion and number one seed, but until a matter of days ago, her 2016 title trophy cabinet was bare.  Rome fixed that gap, and the 21 times Major winner enters the second GS tournament of the year as clear favourite.

With the consistent inconsistency of most of the rest of the top ten, it becomes difficult to select challengers to Serena for the French Open.  Her expected route to the quarter final appears reasonably comfortable, although Serena managed last year to make things as difficult for herself as possible in early rounds, so nothing is guaranteed.

Because of the flawed seed placements, the likely quarter final opponent for the top seed will be fifth seed Vika Azarenka, whose rise back to the top few has been a highlight of the WTA Tour this year.  Wins in Indian Wells and Miami, the former significantly including the defeat of Serena in the final, marked Vika as the best player on tour.  However, clay has always been her worst surface, and that, together with a back injury, has slowed her momentum at the wrong time.  Last year,  Serena beat Vika in the third round at Roland Garros, but even not at her peak, Azarenka took the match to three sets.  Hopefully the back will stand up to the stern test of the Paris clay, and if so I believe Vika has the mental strength to elude the missiles thrown her way.  Dangers exist in the form of Suarez Navarro and Cibulkova.

I expect Serena to win this quarter final and face either eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky or the winner of third seed Angie Kerber and 15th seed Madison Keys.  Kerber won in Stuttgart but was beaten in her opening matches in both Madrid and Rome, so doesn't fill me with great confidence, while Keys impressively made the Rome final, only losing to Serena, and recording wins over Kvitova and Muguruza along the way.  Timea has shown consistency, most recently making the quarters in Rome, after winning in Morocco earlier in the year.  Her part of the draw appears rather soft, and I am predicting a quarter final match up between Bacsinszky and Keys, with Keys the winner, then to play Serena Williams in a semi final, the two participants of the Rome final.

The bottom half of the draw is a lottery - Roberta Vinci is seeded 7 but there is no way I can see her winning through to the quarter finals - she has not beaten a player in the top ten all year, and her only win in the last three events was over a player barely ranked in the top 200.

The next highest seeds in Vinci's quarter are the Czech pair Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova, both of whom have had patches of promising form but of late have hardly impressed enough to suggest either is worthy of a Roland Garros quarter final berth.

I am following form and selecting Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu to take a quarter final spot.  The 25th seed has made the quarters in Madrid, losing to eventual winner Halep, and the semis in Rome, bowing out to eventual winner Williams.  Her scalps in the process included two top ten players Muguruza and Azarenka.

Begu's quarter final hurdle to clear will be fourth seed Garbine Muguruza, who has lately found enough of her best tennis, I believe, to cause some damage at Roland Garros this year.  She will need to keep a careful eye on Russian pair Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ekaterina Makarova, especially Sveta, winner here in 2009 and playing some good tennis in 2016.

Garbine should avenge her defeat at the hands of Begu in Madrid and make another GS semi final.

Her opposition when she arrives there will be the winner of the two final quarter finalists from my look into the future - Simona Halep and Aga Radwanska, seeds six and two respectively.  Halep has one of the easier draws, with last year's runner-up Lucie Safarova a likely round of sixteen match up.  However Lucie, apart from Prague has had a rather empty year, and Halep, also a previous runner-up here, is primed to do well, having only recently picked up the Madrid crown.

Radwanska must beware a likely second round clash with Caroline Garcia, who will carry the momentum of the French crowd and the Strasbourg title on to the Paris clay. Thereafter, it should be plain sailing for the second seed, but not if Barbora Strycova has anything to say about it.  Another dangerous player to watch out for.

I believe that Aga will win through to the quarter final against Halep and despite all the evidence pointing against it, defeat Simona and face off against Muguruza in the semi final.

So after predicting a few upsets, my forecast semi final line-up is surprisingly as per seedings except for Angie Kerber, whose place I've given to Madison Keys.

The final will be won by Serena Williams over Aga Radwanska.

Men's Singles

However hard I try, I cannot find a legitimate contender for the Men's crown at Roland Garros outside of three names - the three clear favourites.  Although with the Geneva result I am tending to throw Wawrinka back in the mix.

Novak Djokovic is outright favourite for several reasons, among them his record on clay (second only to Nadal among current players), his record at Roland Garros, and above all his capacity to beat everyone anywhere, and his ability to fulfil that potential almost all the time over the past 18 months.

Of course winning Roland Garros has become an increasingly annoying gap in Novak's resume, and his 'shocker' in Rome (he only came second God forbid !) apparently gave permission for all and sundry to doubt his credentials.  Andy Murray was now the rightful clay court master, and the reign of the Serb was probably over.

Yes, Murray is handling this surface very well now, but realistically Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic still have the two best records, particularly at this tournament.  (Apart from winning it in Djokovic's case)

Let's predict the quarter final contests.  Novak may have to navigate his way past Delbonis and Bautista Agut, but it is one of the easier draws, on paper, that the top seed has been given in a Major for some time.

Djokovic is seeded to meet seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the quarters but I don't fancy Tomas making the journey.  His big serve may see him survive Pablo Cuevas, but David Ferrer should have too much patience and returning ability on clay in a likely fourth round clash.  Djokovic, then, to defeat Ferrer in one quarter final.

Rafa Nadal, fourth seed, has a more difficult road to the quarter final, not necessarily with his first three matches - his poor history with Fognini shouldn't weigh too heavily on him.  It is the round of sixteen that becomes interesting and possibly gives us the match of the tournament to that point - Nadal v 13th seed Dominic Thiem.  Thiem has won more matches this year than anyone, except for Djokovic, and is in great spirits having won the ATP event in Nice.

Thiem could win the French Open in the future but Rafa will ensure it is not 2016.

The other player in Rafa's quarter final should be the winner of David Goffin and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, if they both make the round of sixteen.  Players of the calibre of Kohlschreiber and Souza will do their best to prevent that. I am putting my money on Goffin to reach the quarters and be beaten up by Nadal once there.

So semi final between Djokovic and Nadal is not a very controversial tip from yours truly, but really it is the only logical selection.

Milos Raonic, the eighth seed, faces some tough times in his quarter, with names such as Sock, Pouille and tenth seed Cilic all with good form and threatening.  Raonic, though, has his big serve to fight through, even on the clay court, and I can see him in a quarter final against Stan Wawrinka.  Stan does not have many concerns in his section of the draw - maybe Gilles Simon can worry him a little but not enough - and Wawrinka will also knock over Raonic to book a semi final spot.

That leaves two quarter finals and one semi final spot. 

In Kei Nishikori 's quarter, the seedings suggest a fourth round clash for the fifth seed against ninth seed Richard Gasquet.  However what everyone except the French crowd wants is for Nick Kyrgios (17th seed) to win through.  I don't think the French would mind the entertainment either.

Can the Australian avenge his defeat at the hands of Nishikori last time ?  I think so, because he is learning and improving all the time.

Ok, maybe with an ounce of home country hope, but with a fair bit of empirical evidence too, Nick Kyrgios to take a quarter final spot.

Andy Murray will be Nick's opponent, simply because there is no one with the game to counter him in that part of the draw.

Nick bows out with head held high and Murray v Wawrinka is the semi final as per seedings.

Hardly a surprise but I've selected the top four seeds to fight out the semi finals.

So close to picking Stan over Andy in the semi, but Novak Djokovic will defeat Andy Murray in the final and complete his career Grand Slam.

As per usual these forecasts will come back to bite me, unless they are correct, in which case I will scream them again from the rooftops.

Vika shafted in Roland Garros draw

Random Seed Placement unfairly affects French Open Draw

Once again an unfair potential quarter final scenario has been facilitated by the farcical shuffling of seeds in the draw - this time the women's draw at the French Open.

Serena Williams, for the second GS tournament in a row has to play the highest of the seeds 5-8, whereas 4th seed Muguruza is given seed number 7 (That should be the 2nd seeds opponent but she has drawn seed number 6) and 3rd seed Kerber has number 8 with which to contend. (That should be Serena's potential opponent) 

So instead of rewarding in order of rankings and seedings (1, 2, 3, 4) by allocating the lowest of the seeds 5-8 to the top seed, then progressively down to the fourth seed who is allocated the highest of that group,  the reward order for Roland Garros this year is 3, 4, 2, 1.

Sound logical ? Hardly.

Why bother winning tournaments and being the best in the world if rankings are thrown out the window and not rewarded with proper placement in draws ?  It's not just Serena that suffers.  

Azarenka, the fifth seed,  has been playing her guts out to retrieve a high ranking, and at five she should be drawn to play the fourth seed in the quarters - instead they give her the top seed. By rights Serena and Vika should be drawn to play in a semi final should they win all their matches to that point. ( 1 v winner of 4 v 5)

It saddens me that tennis officialdom continues to meddle with the draws in this fashion, when it doesn't add value to a tournament - just makes the announcement of the draw an event in itself and that is benefitting who ? Certainly not Azarenka in this case, so the players interests are definitely not taken into account.  Yet the players happen to comprise the most important interest group as they provide the product which has proven such a crowd puller and money spinner.

I will protest on this issue of inequity in tennis until one day there is a decision maker or makers with enough common sense to throw the random seed placement folly out with the rest of the garbage.

Federer to miss Roland Garros

While there are a number of WTA and ATP events being conducted in the week prior to the commencement of the year's second Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros,  the biggest talking point is clearly the withdrawal of Roger Federer from the French Open.  

Federer has not been able to recover sufficiently from his back injury, and will break his run of competing at 65 successive Grand Slam tournaments stretching back to the 2000 Australian Open.  In hindsight perhaps he should have extended his rest from Madrid through to Rome instead of rushing back too soon.  Irrespective, it will be strange to not have Roger in the draw.

The immediate beneficiary is Rafa Nadal, who now becomes the fourth seed and avoids the possibility of another farce where he could have, purely with an unlucky dip, faced Djokovic or Murray in the quarters.  The earliest stage that he could meet either of the top two seeds now is in a semi final.  That is a good result for tennis, and the only positive news from the sad Federer story.

Serious question:  Should Roger consider cutting his losses and give his body the best chance to recover with a longer term view ?  That means bypassing the grass court events including Wimbledon.  It's a huge call since it is his favourite time of the year, but if the back injury is that serious, then fulfilling a short term want may come at a greater expense down the track. And realistically his extremely limited preparation doesn't provide him with his best ever chance of success at Wimbledon in 2016.  

Still he may prove me wrong - he has before.

In Geneva, the semi finals have almost gone with the seedings - 2nd seed David Ferrer will play 3rd seed Marin Cilic and top seed Stan Wawrinka also made it to the last four.  Fourth seed John Isner was a second round casualty, taken out by tall unseeded Czech Lukas Rosol, who also impressively dispatched Kuznetsov in the quarter final.  Stan has been rather erratic of late and will need to be wary of the dangerous Rosol.

France welcomes some of the male players to its colourful south as a prelude to the trip north for the much larger Roland Garros.  And in Nice one semi final in 2016 will feature top seed Dominic Thiem against unseeded Adrian Mannarino, who will start crowd favourite because he is French and Thiem is not.  The other semi has 5th seed Portuguese Joao Souza matched against 8th seed German Alexander Zverev.  Both did particularly well in knocking out Kevin Anderson and Gilles Simon in their respective quarter finals.

In Nurnberg, Germany, top seed Roberta Vinci was ranked 7 in the world coming into the tournament.  The second seed was ranked 38.  All that counted for little because at semi final time only one seeded player is left - third seed Annika Beck from Germany.  Her semi final opponent is yet to be determined, but it won't be either of the two seeds in her section of the draw - also German - because Laura Siegemund (2) and Sabine Lisicki (5) were dumped by the Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino and USA's Varvara Lepchenko respectively, both unseeded.  The latter two will contest the remaining quarter final to see who plays Beck.

The other semi final contestants are Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands and Julia Goerges from Germany.  The home crowd could well see an all German final.

While some men are hitting tennis balls in the French south, a group of women have been swinging racquets in the north in Strasbourg.  The semi finalists there, as in Nice, also include a French player - in fact three.

The all French semi has Virginie Razzano, unseeded, and famous for ousting Serena Williams in the first round of Roland Garros 2012, up against 10th seed Caroline Garcia, recipient of a walkover from Sam Stosur whose wrist injury hopefully is minor enough not to inhibit her next week.

4th seed Kristina Mladenovic, the third lady from France, meets unseeded but underrated Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the remaining semi final.