Nadal's new record
On May 27, 2009, four-time champion Rafael Nadal set a new record at Roland Garros becoming the only man or woman to have won 30 consecutive matches at Roland Garros after his victory against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. This feat eclipses the previous record held by Chris Evert, who won 29 consecutive matches. By beating Lleyton Hewitt on May 29, Nadal extended the record to 31 consecutive matches. Despite this, Nadal lost to Robin Soderling on May 31 in four sets (2–6, 7–6, 4–6, 6–7), finally ending Nadal's streak.
Day 1 (May 24)
Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan became the first male winner at this year's French Open. French favourites Julie Coin and Mathieu Montcourt enjoyed safe passages through to the second round, but compatriot Mathilde Johansson was unable to use the crowd's advantage, falling to Vitalia Diatchenko 2–6, 6–2, 10–8. Lleyton Hewitt came from 2 tiebreak sets down, taking a third set tiebreak and eventually the match over the 26th seeded Croat Ivo Karlović, winning 6–7(1), 6–7(4), 7–6(4), 6–4, 6–3, to cause the the first upset of a seed in the tournament. Karlovic set the new record for the greatest number of aces in the match, serving 55, but couldn't find a way to win. [1] French wildcard Josselin Ouanna came from two sets to one behind to defeat Marcel Granollers, 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 7–6(2), 6–1. However, Amélie Mauresmo lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–4, 6–3, to add to her history of early-round exits at Roland Garros. However, seventh seed Gilles Simon recovered from a tight clash with Wayne Odesnik, 4–6, 7–5, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. Former French Open champion Gastón Gaudio made a disappointing start to his grand slam comeback, losing in straight sets to Radek Štěpánek 6–3, 6–4, 6–1.
Day 2 (May 25)
World number one and top seed Dinara Safina thrashed British Number one Anne Keothavong, 6–0, 6–0 in the first match on Philippe Chatrier, followed by ATP World Tour Champion and four-time defending champion, top seed Rafael Nadal defeating Brazilian qualifier Marcos Daniel 7–5, 6–4, 6–3. Second seed Roger Federer followed with a comfortable victory over Alberto Martín 6–4, 6–3, 6–2. Third seed Venus Williams struggled against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but won 6–1, 4–6, 6–2. French wildcard Guillaume Rufin, who turned 19 on day 3, upset Eduardo Schwank, who reached the second week last year, 6–1, 6–3, 6–3 to the delight of French fans. However, fans were disappointed to see their Nicolas Devilder fall in five sets (despite holding a two sets to love lead) to seventeenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, 6–3, 5–7, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. More disappointment came when Romain Jouan, another wildcard, fell 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to sixth seed Andy Roddick. However, more good news for American fans followed when Fed Cup heroine Alexa Glatch stunned Flavia Pennetta 6–1, 6–1, to advance to the second round. Kateryna Bondarenko upset Patty Schnyder, and 13th seed Marion Bartoli recovered in an all-French affair to beat Pauline Parmentier 3–6, 6–1, 6–3. Two more French wild cards fell as Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova defeated Irena Pavlovic and Australian Jarmila Groth beat Kinnie Laisné. Seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Robin Söderling, and Zheng Jie also advanced. Another of the day's upsets came at the hands Colombia's Mariana Duque Marino, who beat former Top 5 player and 26th seeded Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Day 3 (May 26)
Serbs Jelena Janković and Novak Djokovic had no problems in their second round matches, beating Petra Cetkovská and Nicolas Lapentti respectively. Serena Williams came through a tough tie - in which she squandered eight match points - against CzechKlára Zakopalová to win 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–4. All French seeds came through unscathed with victories for Marion Bartoli, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Gaël Monfils. The United States' hopes of having a French Open champion took a big blow as James Blake and Mardy Fish both lost to Argentinian opponents. Fish lost to Máximo González 6–3, 1–6, 6–4, 7–6(4), and Blake, the highest seed to fall on Day 3, was beaten convincingly by Argentinian qualifier Leonardo Mayer 7–6(6), 7–5, 6–2. Number 27 seed Rainer Schuettler was comprehensively beaten by home favourite Marc Gicquel 6–0, 6–0, 6–4 and Chinese number 31 seed Shuai Peng was the only women's seed to go out, as she lost to Spain's María José Martínez Sánchez 1–6, 6–2, 6–4. There were victories for 10th seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki, former finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva and World No. 5 Juan Martín del Potro.
Day 11 (June 3)
Seeds out:
Men's Singles: Gaël Monfils, Tommy Robredo
Women's Singles: Serena Williams
Women's Doubles: Cara Black / Liezel Huber, Su-wei Hsieh / Shuai Peng
Mixed Doubles: Nadia Petrova / Max Mirnyi
Day 12 (June 4)
Seeds out:
Women's Singles:
Men's Doubles:
Mixed Doubles:Matches on Court Philippe Chatrier (Center Court)
Event Winner Loser Score
Women's Singles Semi Final Dinara Safina (1) vs. Dominika Cibulkova (20)
Women's Singles Semi Final Samantha Stosur (30) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
Mixed Doubles Final Liezel Huber (1) / Bob Bryan (1) vs. Vania King / Marcelo Melo
