Masha battles some fashionistas

The Tiffany-ed Maria Sharapova has faced some close calls in the first three rounds of this year’s French but managed to eke out wins so far (and now it’ll get even easier with the Williams sisters out of the way).

It was a battle of fashion good vs. evil yesterday when Masha took on Bethanie Mattek in the second round. They played over two days, and Bethanie actually had a fairly respectable outfit from Bebe Sport for day one.

And the match (postponed due to darkness) resumed with Bethanie wearing her pink hooker dress which we first saw in March at Indian Wells.

God. Bless. America.

And her third-round opponent, Karin Knapp, gave a fight in the first set (even intimidating Masha with some second serve mindgames ala Azarenka) but sputtered 6-0 in the second. Oh well, at least she looked great in her pink and silver Fila separates. Fabric belts = trend du jour.

(Photos by Getty Images)

Davydenko, out! + Airness drops Nadia?

Battle of the No. 3s: Poor Nikolay Davydenko got pushed to five sets by Ivan Ljubicic, the man who used to occupy Kolya’s spot as No. 3 in the world behind Rafa and Roger. The score, in Ivan’s favor: 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

The Russian’s clothing sponsor, Airness, kept up its end of the bargain by giving him no less than three variations of their Spring ’08 shirt. That mock collar, which we also saw on Lotto this season, is a little too much with all the color blocks and stripes. Oh well, at least we won’t have to see it for a week.

Meanwhile, Nadia Petrova got dropped by Airness, it looks like. She showed up at Roland Garros wearing this drop shot top from Nike.

(photos by Getty Images)

towels galore: erwin’s picks from the RG store

These are the goods I’ve been eyeing at the Roland Garros online store…

TOP CHOICE: Yes, friends — if you are thinking about getting me an early birthday present, this is the way to go. Beach towel, €63.

And here are the rest:

grey hoodie, €65; beige cap, €25.

keyring, €25; black leather shoes, €99.

mosaic t-shirt, €28; green trophy shirt, €35.

Men’s players towel, €38; Women’s players towel, €38.

clay beach towel, €63; clay beach towel, €63.

white beach towel, €63; white beach towel; €63.

seen around roland garros: mary pierce

A 2000 flashback: Not to be outdone by the cameo of fellow 2000 titlist Guga Kuerten, Mary Pierce also made an appearance at this year’s tourney. She stopped by the set of Tennis Channel’s French Open Tonight (with host Bill Macatee).

If you remember, both Guga and Mary showed up at last year’s singles trophy ceremonies…

(photo for TSF courtesy of Tennis Channel)

red scare? more like red annoyance

TSF had concerns about Nikolay Davydenko facing Davis Cup teammate and v-neck posterboy Marat Safin in the second round of the French Open, especially after Safin dismantled Jean-Rene Lisnard in the match prior (granted, Lisnard is ranked 228th in the world). But it turned out to be a clay cakewalk for Kolya, who won 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2.

Perhaps it was Marat’s lack of jewelry that did him in. Where are his necklaces?!

Buy: Marat’s adidas Spring Competition 6 Theme Polo in Scarlet Red, $44.99 at TennisExpress.

(photo by Getty Images)

fashion focus: roger federer’s bag

Okay, so there is one part of Roger Federer‘s French Open kit that Nike didn’t tone down — look at his bright red duffel!

It’s a style similar to what he used at last year’s Wimbledon, U.S. Open, and Australian.

What do you think of the bag? Tell us!

Thanks again to Tennishead for helping us out with these wonderful pictures. This UK-based tennis portal has deployed a bunch of folks to photograph and write about Roland Garros. Check out their coverage at Tennishead.net.

(photo by Tennishead for TSF)

frills, drawstring, and gathered fabric for Fila Japan’s Spring line

Akiko Morigami had a tiny window of opportunity at the French Open to showcase the latest from Fila Japan‘s s/s 08 line. We already saw the separates she wore in Melbourne, but TSF really wanted to know what was under that white jumper from the photoshoot. Turns out they’re red separates with lots of gathered fabric and drawstring detail. Cute in theory, but it looks a little messy for the court.

Scoreline: Akiko lost 4-6, 3-6 in the first round to Petra Kvitova.

Browse: See the rest of the Fila Japan women’s line here. Our picks from the collection are above.

(photos by Getty Images and Fila Japan)

Trophy Watch: Guga’s final splash on Court Philippe Chatrier

Trophy watch: Three-time French Open champion (and TSF fave) Guga Kuerten bid adieu to the red clay of Roland Garros for the final time, accepting a wild card that his body couldn’t back up. He lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. And when it was all over, they awarded Guga with a cross-section of the court that propelled him to the upper echelons of tennis.

As a good luck charm, Guga wore the same Diadora kit as when he won his first French Open title in 1997. That title was the first of 20 that he would eventually rack up in his 13-year career.

Take that, Roger Federer!

Here are a few more pictures, plus a link to Chris Clarey‘s NYT write-up of the match — all

even on roger, nike stays prim and proper

Continuing with their conservative throwback theme, Nike dressed Roger Federer in a contrast collar polo as he faced the hard-serving Sam Querrey in the first round of the French. Roger came out the winner not only in tennis skills, but also in fashion:

Federer was decked out in a smart navy blue number and at the end of the match still gave the impression of a man who had just walked off the set of a photo-shoot, while Querrey’s red shirt hung over his broad shoulders like a tarpaulin covering a container lorry.

Ouch.

And Alberto Montanes took a set off the world No. 1 before being overwhelmed 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-0, 6-4. See Roger’s cute outfit from the back.

Buy: Nike Summer Pinstripe Polo, $65, Obsidian Blue/White. And for more casual contrast collar polos, check these out.

(photos by Getty Images)

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tattoo watch: luis horna

Tattoo Watch: the furrylicious Luis Horna lost to Gael Monfils 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the 2008 French Open.

A picture of Luis with a shirt on here.

(photos by Getty Images)

Roland Garros: enjoy the ride

Having skipped coverage of the clay court season leading up to the French, I’ve come to the table with an empty stomach. As some of you may recall from last summer’s U.S. Open, it is possible to overdose on watching tennis.

And now, with the recent news and results of the circuit having faded from our consciousness and as RG gets under way, a parade of unheralded players burst out of the woodwork and onto the stage: Eysseric of France, who just turned 18; Eduardo Schwank of Argentina, taking down Moya; the welcome-but-sadly-brief return of Guillermo Coria; and many more names that have never passed our ears. You have to get up pretty early in the morning, troll a number of obscure tennis resources, and generally do a lot of homework to keep up with everyone. (The commentators certainly don’t do it, so I don’t feel too bad not having done it myself.)

I smell some late-round surprise survivors for this year, a la Filip Dewulf (’97 semifinalist) or Martin Verkerk (finalist ’03). And along with that some big-time upsets. But watching the first round matches play out with a sense of inevitability, a few early exits excepted, we’d be deluding ourselves to think that anyone but Rafael Nadal will be biting the Coupe des Mousquetaires on June 8th. So it’s all about enjoying the ride.

—

Michael Shaw writes about tennis and other subjects for the Los Angeles Times, and is also an artist. He can be reached at michaelshaw_sar AT yahoo DOT com. Read his previous posts for TSF here.

rodina in fila’s spring 2008 heritage dress + agnes szavay’s halter dress will be back!

Before our post, a shout-out to Sandy Beverage…

19-year-old Russian Evgeniya Rodina gave Maria Sharapova a scare in the first round, taking a set off the top seed before falling 8-6 in the third during their first-round match.

Props to Evgeniya for sporting Fila‘s Spring Heritage Dress (the separates of which Svetlana Kuznetsova wore back in March). The wrap at the bust is a nice touch.

More to come: TSF stopped by the Fila showroom in NYC last week and saw what they’ll have in store for the ladies in 2008. You can look for that slimming swath of fabric (in navy on this piece) to pop up on Agnes Szavay Wimbledon halter dress — yes, the halter, which we thought disappeared after her Fila sponsorship, is back!

Fila designers told us that Agi is very involved with the design of the clothes, and we’ll definitely see that when the more form-flattering designs roll out later this year. The Heritage collection will also feature prominently during the 2008 U.S. Open.

Buy: Fila Spring Heritage Dress, $65 at TennisExpress.

(image courtesy of Fila)

Jankovic accessorizes for her French Open run

Probable finalist Jelena Jankovic began her French Open fortnight with a two-set match against Monica Niculescu. The World No. 3 won the first set tiebreak 7-3 and breezed through the second, 6-2. Jelena wore the summer version of Reebok‘s RBK Pro Tradition Dress in Spa Blue.

Buy: RBK Pro Tradition Dress, $39.99 at TW.com.

That nail polish is the same shade as the Louboutins she rocked at the Australian Open!

Thanks to Tennishead for snapping this photo of Jelena’s bag especially for TSF. Tennishead is a tennis portal out of the UK. You should check them out for their daily updated coverage from Roland Garros.

(photos by Getty Images and Tennishead for TSF)

chanel’s Spring 2008 pink racquet

Karl Lagerfeld revisits tennis for his 2008 spring/summer RTW collection for Chanel. While we saw many different colors of this racquet pop up during the runway show, it seems that the bright pink stick is the only one they produced for retail.

Buy: Available for $595 at most Chanel boutiques.

(photo from chanel.com)

the 2008 roland garros poster

We are in love with this poster designed by Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer for the 2008 French Open.

Download: You can get a larger version of the poster here (PDF).

between nike and adidas, a battle of olympic proportions

From Forbes:

“adidas paid approximately $100 million in cash and merchandise donations for the partnership rights, according to various reports. The company will supply apparel to athletes, staff volunteers and technical officials, plus sponsor interactive Internet gaming featuring several Chinese athletes, to place its brand in front of the crowd. Nike‘s gone another way, focusing, as usual, on sponsoring specific athletes. “Nike has never had to be an ‘official sponsor’ to make inroads,” says Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

…

“The problem for Adidas is that,while it’s staked out its turf as an official sportswear partner, Nike has more top athletes. They include Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer and Australian track star Craig Mottram, along with old standby basketball legends Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

The fact that Nike’s athlete’s aren’t guaranteed to win at the games means there’s risk in going the performance route but also bigger payoff if they do. And to make local inroads, the company has signed up 22 of China’s 28 sports federations to outfit most of its athletes. That means even Yao Ming, the Chinese marketing sensation who plays for the NBA’s Houston Rockets, will be outfitted in a Nike basketball uniform despite a personal deal with Adidas’ Reebok unit.

adidas names a line after Sania

The Economic Times

Kolkata — After David Beckham, Germany’s iconic sports goods maker, the e10.3-billion Adidas Group, is poised to come up with an apparel and accessories collection named after glamourous tennis ace Sania Mirza. The group will roll out the Sania Mirza collection under its namesake ‘adidas’ brand. This is the first time that Adidas will globally roll out a dedicated merchandise line after a tennis star.

Looking for Ashley Harkleroad? This might do for now.

(Editor Update: As of July 2012 we are focusing our tennis coverage over at Tennis Now. Check us out there.)

Bless those reliable courtside photographers of the French Open — they mean business!

tattoo watch: the barely legal jonathan eysseric

Jonathan Eysseric became the victim of Andy Murray in a first round clash at Roland Garros. Eyserric put up a fight but eventually lost 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 0-6, 2-6.

Much to the delight of law-abiding TSF readers, Eysseric turned 18 today. Happy birthday!

Tattoo watch: And there’s now a bounty out for a photo of Jonathan’s back tattoo in its entirety. You know the drill. (Thanks, Rachael.)

Browse: See the rest of our tattoo watch sightings.

(photos by Getty Images, Belga)

hats and pins

A picture from day two of the 2008 French Open.

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

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