Paris hero Julien Benneteau

Roger Federer was beaten by Julien Benneteau in the Paris Masters last night, the Frenchman seizing his opportunity in what was the game of his life.  The world number one who said after the game that he was in good shape physically and mentally, conceded that Benneteau deserved the win.

“He played incredible at the end. Julien went out and got the victory. I definitely had chances. I missed them. I feel fine physically, and mentally I was fresh to do really well here. I didn’t have my rhythm from the baseline. Every time I had a chance he was winning the point.”

Benneteau who was backed by a lively and enthusiastic home crowd, came back from a 3-6 loss in the first set, to win the game 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. The overwhelmed French player said after the shock win:

“It’s magic. It’s fabulous. Everything you can imagine. The memories will stay with me forever. Hearing the crowd when they are all behind you, the noise is enormous. I didn’t believe it was possible to experience something like this.”

Earlier in the day Rafael Nadal had struggled against fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, losing the first set 3-6. Almagro will probably feel that he did enough to win the match as Nadal looked more than a little rusty on court, but the game went in Nadal’s favour in the next two sets, finishing 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.

A relieved Nadal said after the match:

“I played great tennis in only one moment, but in the rest of the match I didn’t play well. I am very lucky to be in the next round. That’s the truth. I played bad but I won, which is the one positive thing.”

Andy Murray made hard work of his battle with James Blake, winning the first set 6-3, with no break of serve in either the second or third sets. Blake winning the tie break in the second and Murray taking the crucial third, to win the match 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4).

The match started at 23.30 local time in Paris and continued into the early hours of Thursday morning in front of a sparse crowd, leaving Murray to ponder on his chances of recovery for the next round. He said:

“I don’t know if you can recover 100%, it’s a very, very difficult thing to do. By the time I get back and have food, see my physio, it’s 4am by the time you get to bed and any athlete will tell you it’s not the easiest thing to do. I don’t expect to be feeling great but I’ll just try and fight as hard as I can and try and win.”