France and Switzerland are 1-all, but the outcome of the singles was a bit different than that you would have predicted few weeks ago.
Wawrinka – Tsonga
Stan won 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 playing an absolutely delightful match. The Swiss outplayed Tsonga for the entire match. The only moment that Wawrinka went down was when he lost his service game in the 4th game of the second set (3-1). Besides that it was just about Stan.
Wawrinka was superior in every aspect of the game from the baseline rallies to the timing about going to the net (he won 25 points of 32).
Monfils – Federer
This was a no-go for Roger that did lose in straight sets 6-1 6-4 6-3. Federer wasn’t at his very best to be very slow in changing directions and in finding his forehand inside out. He was clearly worried for his back. On the other side Monfils was all over him. The good point for Roger is that he didn’t have major problems to his back, but he struggled for not having trained for 5 days (and for ages on clay). In addition you always struggle after a major injury when you play a match as you try to adjust your movements to avoid to get injured once again.
Roger commented ”Clearly I did feel, not having hit and played and moved at all for five days, and Gael did play well. not like I couldn’t play at all. It was a proper match, and he was the better player at the end.”
Next
On Saturday we will have the doubles. One option is to go for weaker doubles with Chiudinelli and Lammer. Another one is going with Roger and Stan (but they are not playing at their very best). Federer said that his back would allow him to play doubles.