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  • French Open Fourth Round: Roger Federer vs. Julien Benneteau

    6/2/08 2:47 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Four rounds, four unseeded opponents for Roger Federer. This time, however, he is going up against one of France's own in Julien Benneteau. Will Federer join Nadal and Djokovic in the quarterfinals?

    It will be the second career meeting between Roger Federer and Julien Benneteau when the two players do battle in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday. Federer won their only previous encounter 6-3, 6-3 on the hard courts of Cincinnati last season, so this will be their first matchup on clay.

    While the slow stuff is generally considered Federer's wost surface, the world No. 1 has actually seen his game heat up on clay in 2008. His hard-court campaign, after all, lacked the usual Federer flair. He lost matches to Andy Murray, Mardy Fish, and finally to Andy Roddick at the Masters Series Miami. On clay his only real disappointing loss came at the hands of in-form Radek Stepanek, to go along with his two setbacks against Rafael Nadal. Federer also won a title in Estoril last month. During the first week in Roland Garros, the Swiss has dispatched Sam Querrey, Albert Montanes, and Mario Ancic, only dropping one set to Montanes.

    The Swiss faces yet another unseeded opponent in Benneteau. The Frenchman is an aggressive player who loves getting into the net and thrives at doubles, yet he somehow never ceases to amaze on clay courts. A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in 2006, Benneteau recently finished runner-up to fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon in Casablanca. The No. 55 player in the world has also enjoyed stellar play on hard courts this season, reaching the semifinals in Auckland, the quarterfinals in Las Vegas, and the fourth round of the Masters Series Miami. So far in Paris he has defeated Vince Spadea, Alejandro Falla, and Robin Söderling, who came into that third-round match as one of the hottest players in tennis.

    Benneteau cannot go away from his attacking style of play if he wants to have any chance of troubling Federer. He knows as well as anyone that he cannot even begin to hang with the top seed from the back of the court. Benneteau has to serve out of his mind and follow those serves into the set while approaching to the Federer backhand in order to be competitive. If Benneteau can stay close early, the crowd should get into the match and get behind their man. That will help, but even if that happens it would be surprising if Benneteau managed to take one set.

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Did you know that... Arnaud Clement and Fabrice Santoro fought during 6 hours and 33 minutes in the longest match ever played, in French Open 2004.

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Did you know that... Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement fought during 6 hours and 33 minutes in the longest match ever played, in French Open 2004.

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