And there goes the Bay Area's 2011 French Open representation, as the San Francisco-born Sam Querrey has been eliminated in round two, losing in straight sets to Ivan Ljubicic. Querrey's goal coming into Roland Garros this year was simple: get in the win column before all-else. He did not have his sights immediately set on a French Open crown, he was simply concerned with beating Philipp Kohlschreider. Well, he was able to do that, and handily, while his performance in the second round may have echoed the feeling of "only looking for one win."
That's only a little unfair, because it's true that Querrey didn't necessarily play terrible tennis, while Ljubicic was most definitely "on." Querrey's propensity to be a serving machine wasn't necessarily absent, but it definitely wasn't where he wanted it to be. Ljubicic, on the other hand, was the one to shine in that regard, with eleven aces and no double faults to Querrey's eight aces and two double faults. Ljubici was 2-for-3 on his break point opportunities, and won 90% of his first serves, with 45-of-50.
Querrey showed fire in the opening set, but it all crumbled when he fell to a 5-0 deficit on the tiebreak. He'd go on to lose to the Croat 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. The entire match was a case of strong serves, and it was clear that Ljubicic was the better man in that regard. Mardy Fish is the only American left in the tournament, and for Querrey, it's back to the drawing board.
In other news, we had an upset early on in day five when the second-seeded Kim Clijsters fell to the un-seeded Arantxa Rus. Clijsters didn't look great in her opening round matchup, but she did get started well in round two, taking the first set comfortably at 6-3. She also looked decent at the beginning of the second set, and was in a position to win a match point ... twice. But Rus battled back.
Battled back to a 7-5 win in the second set and, with Clijsters sapped of all momentum and confidence, a 6-1 third set. That's a final score of 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 and we have our upset of the tournament. Number one seed Caroline Wozniacki is still in the tournament, and is set to take on Daniela Hantuchova in round three.