Grosjean fights his way through
Georges Homsi
Thursday, May 30, 2002

The atmosphere was electric on Court Philippe Chatrier
on Thursday afternoon. French No1 Sebastien Grosjean
was battling for a place in the third round.

The obstacle was certainly not an easy one. James Blake,
the 22-year-old American, a former Harvard student, is
currently one of the tour's most promising players.

Today's match carried a double significance. Blake, a
member of the US Davis Cup squad, may well meet Grosjean
again, in the Davis Cup semifinals in September, on that
same Court Philippe Chatrier.

One of the question marks surrounding the match was the
state of Grosjean's groin. It has been injured for almost
two months now, and it had bothered him a little during
his first round win over Francisco Clavet.

But the Frenchman played a courageous match, winning the
first set, and losing the second against the athletic
American who covered the court extremely well, but
sometimes lacked consistency.

At 2-2 in the third set, Grosjean was visibly suffering
and it seemed doubtful that he would have the strength to
finish the match at full gear. But the enthusiastic cheers
of the crowd suddenly seemed to give him the rush of
adrenaline he needed.

And like someone who had no choice but to go for his shots
on every point, and attempt winners, Grosjean imposed his
game, hitting some very spectacular winners to win the
third set 6-2, and take a 5-1 lead in the fourth.

But it was far from over. At this point, Grosjean appeared
to take his impending win for granted. Twice he served for
the match, and twice he was broken at love, allowing Blake
to serve at 4-5 to level out the set.

Blake stood at 40-15 on serve, but Grosjean valiantly
recovered to reach match point. Then the Frenchman sent
a powerful inside-out forehand wide, allowing Blake to
draw at 5-5.

But two games later, Grosjean had match point again. This
time, a forehand passing shot forced Blake to hit a low
volley too long. The whole stadium exploded in joy. After
three hours of play, Grosjean was in the round of 32.

"It was tough because I was already quite tired after
yesterday's match," said Grosjean. "But I knew I had to
play from inside the court, and impose my game." The
Frenchman added that his injury hadn't bothered him at
the beginning.

"As the match went on, I was feeling it more. I was avoiding
sliding too much, except on big points" After playing two
intense four-setters in 24 hours, he admitted his relief to
have a day off on Friday. "It will do me so much good."

Grosjean plays American Vincent Spadea in the next round.