French Open: Sunday 25 May to Sunday 8 June
Coverage: BBCi, Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website.
French Open
Fourth round latest:
N DJOKOVIC (Ser) v P Mathieu (Fra) *
2-2
* denotes server
LATEST ACTION (all times BST)
To get involved use 606 or text us your views & comments on 81111. (Not all contributions can be used) Swiss big-cheese Federer breezes into Hamburg final ...
Live - Murray v Djokovic ... By Piers Newbery
1401: "Does watching mathieu at roland garros remind anyone else of watching henman at wimbledon-the support, expectation and ultimate disappointment?"
From anon via text on 81111
Djokovic 2-2 Mathieu
A thumping love-service game from Djokovic.
Djokovic 1-2 Mathieu
No sign of the traditional Mathieu mental breakdown yet, but it's early days. He holds to 15. The winner will play Ernests Gulbis in the quarter-finals as the 19-year-old Latvian has just beaten Michael Llodra in straight sets. Ernests - there's a name for you. Good player though.
1354: "Only a tenner Piers! :-)" (see 1343 entry)
From Chris via text on 81111
Djokovic 1-1 Mathieu
Djokovic, oozing confidence as usual, moves 30-0 clear but lets Mathieu back in with a couple of loose backhands. The third seed responds with an ace and holds serve.
The Parisian crowd is already getting a bit lively, although nothing compared to my journey home last night as people mourned the passing of drinking on the tube by..... drinking very heavily and falling over on the tube. All very emotional.
Djokovic 0-1 Mathieu
Eyes down - Mathieu to serve first..... and the Frenchman sticks his first two big forehand efforts into the net to go 0-30. He gathers himself together well, though, edging back to 30-30 and then smacking a forehand cross-court winner into the corner and another down the line for the game.
1343: "I've placed a bet on Monfils to get to the semis. Come on my son!"
From Chris via text on 81111 (He's got to get past Ljubicic and probably Ferrer - possible but I hope you haven't put the mortgage on it)
1338: A smiling Djokovic puts up with the teeth-grinding pre-match interview. "I know he's going to have big support from 15,000 French people," says the world number three. "But the French like you very much too," responds our Gallic host. "Well, thank you very much for that," says Djokovic, before walking onto Court Philippe Chatrier to the deafening sound of "Mathieu, Mathieu, Mathieu!"
1335: "I expect this match to become another heartbreaker for Mathieu. He has the game to beat anyone when he's on, but he's known for snatching defeat away from the jaws of victory in the most spectacular fashion."
From Guiro on 606
1330: After the excitement of yesterday, when there were five-set thrillers at every turn, today has begun in more predictable fashion. Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic have made it into the women's quarters, Ivanovic without losing a game and Jankovic after her customary medical time-out.
And now for Novak Djokovic, who is looking to make it a hat-trick of Serbian wins.
Djokovic and Mathieu have met twice before, with Djokovic winning in Miami two years ago and Mathieu taking revenge a few months later at the Paris Masters.
The Frenchman is a hard one to predict, capable of screaming winners and abject collapses. Streaky is the word. However, he has former French Open champion Mats Wilander in his corner these days, so maybe he's picked up some of the Swede's icy resolve.
(BBC)
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