News of the day - 2009

TUESDAY : FRENCHIES ON DECK

Day 2 of the Open 13 will have a strong French accent.

Action will kick-off with the Recouderc-Schuettler match. The Toulouse native, who passed the qualifying phase, will have a tough time versus one of the tour veterans. Soon 33 years old, Rainer Schuettler is still within the top 40 and even reached the Wimbledon semis last year. However 2009 has yet to be very productive for the German, and the young Recouderc could have an opening.

The afternoon match on center court could be one filled with emotions should Fabrice Santoro come to lose to fellow country man Julien Benneteau. "Battling Fab", at 36 years old is completing, as is Marat Safin, his farewell tour. Santoro could be playing his last match in Marseille, but not if he can help it. If he reproduces his Australian Open performances, Benneteau can start worrying. The road wil however be long to win the tournament as he did in 1999.

In the early evening, another former winner of the tournamant, Arnaud Clément, will come out on court to challenge Marat Safin. The Russian, who as mentionned above, is also saying goodbye to the world of professionnal tennis, requested a Wild Card, which tournament organizers saw as a blessing. Safin and Clément have only met twice sharing wins.

The final match of the day will be a match-up between number 8 in the world Gilles SImon of France and the new phenomenon, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. The 17 year old ranked 401 in the world beat Tomas Berdych mast week in Rotterdam before giving Rafael Nadal a run for his money, snatching a set off the leader of world tennis. Simon crowned in Marseille two years ago will surely be extremely focused.