Andy Murray staged a sensational fightback to come from two sets and a break down to beat Richard Gasquet in the first round of the French Open last night.
The fourth seed looked to be down and out against his French opponent, but fought back to win 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, in a match that lasted more than four hours.
It was only the second time that the Briton had come from two sets down at a grand slam, the previous occasion was also against Gasquet, coming at Wimbledon in 2008.
Gasquet, the former world No 7 who has fallen to 68th in the rankings after missing much of last year serving a drugs ban for which he was later cleared, had taken a tight first set by breaking in the 10th game.
The second set proved to be equally close, with both players squandering break points, as it went with serve to a tie-break. There, Gasquet held his nerve to take it and go two sets to love up as Murray put a backhand into the net.
It looked to be all over for Murray, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris 12 months ago, when Gasquet broke to go 3-2 up in the third set. Murray lost his temper and started to complain to the umpire at the changeover, accusing his opponent of disrupting his focus.
"Every single time I've got to serve in this match, except once, he stopped me," Murray said after the match, referring to Gasquet's refusal to play while spectators were still moving in the stands. "It's amazing."
But Murray broke back immediately, and after the pair exchanged breaks, he broke decisively in the tenth game to breathe new life into his challenge.
The fourth set proved to be one-way traffic as Murray broke in the fourth and eighth games to take it to a decider. Gasquet had already called for the trainer at the end of the third set, and he again received medical attention before the start of the final set. Despite being visibly exhausted he had the first opportunity to break serve in the final set in the third game, but was unable to take it as he put a backhand long.
That miss proved costly as Murray rattled through the next four games to win and set up a match with Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the second round.
Meanwhile in yesterday's other action, Roger Federer labelled his opening round win as the perfect start to his French Open title defence. The world No 1 was rarely troubled in a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory against the Australian Peter Luczak on Court Philippe Chatrier that sets up a second-round match with Colombia's Alejandro Falla.
"It's always important coming back as defending champion, trying to get off to a good start," he said. "It was like a perfect match to get off the French Open campaign."
Federer bided his time in the first set and did not really push Luczak until the 10th game.
The top seed showed his annoyance when Luczak's serve was called in on his first set point but he did not have long to wait and an untimely double fault from his opponent handed Federer the advantage. From then on he never looked back and he added: "I served well. I never really got a chance on my serve, so I was pretty relaxed."
Novak Djokovic survived a second-set wobble to book his place in the second round with a four-set victory over Evgeny Korolev.
The third seed and former Australian Open champion won 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Kei Nishikori.
Djokovic looked like steamrollering his opponent after racing to a set and a break lead. But the Serb lost six of the next seven games as Korolev upped his game.The same could not be said in the third set as Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead before comfortably moving 2-1 ahead in sets.
The 23-year-old Serbian did not hang around in the fourth either, instantly breaking his opponent as he cruised through. Feliciano Lopez became the second men's seed to exit the competition after he was beaten by Julian Reister of Germany.
The Spanish 27th seed went down 6-1, 7-6, 6-2 to his opponent, who is ranked 166th in the world.
Slovakia's Lukas Lacko beat the American qualifier Michael Yani 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 12-10, to tie the record for the most games in a match at Roland Garros since tie-breakers were introduced in 1973.
The match, which resumed yesterday at 8-8 in the fifth set after being suspended overnight because of darkness, had 71 games.
Three other men's singles matches at Roland Garros also lasted that length. The overall record is the 83 games played in a match in 1957.
* Compiled by Graham Caygill, with agencies
Court Philippe Chatrier - 1pm onwards
Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) v 22 Justine Henin (Belgium)
6 Andy Roddick (USA) v Jarkko Nieminen (Finland)
Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) v 13 Marion Bartoli (France)
28 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) v Jeremy Chardy (France)
Court Suzanne Lenglen - 1pm
7 Fernando Verdasco (Spain) v Igor Kunitsyn (Russia)
9 Dinara Safina (Russia) v Kimiko Date Krumm (Japan)
Gianni Mina (France) v 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain)
12 Maria Sharapova (Russia) v Ksenia Pervak (Russia)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The%20Little%20Mermaid%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rob%20Marshall%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHalle%20Bailey%2C%20Jonah%20Hauer-King%2C%20Melissa%20McCarthy%2C%20Javier%20Bardem%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
Dubai World Cup Carnival card:
6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) | US$175,000 | 2,410 metres
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (Dirt) | $100,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: Handicap (T) | $145,000 | 1,000m
8.15pm: Dubawi Stakes Group 3 (D) | $200,000 | 1,200m
8.50pm: Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (T) | $200,000 | 1,800m
9.25pm: Handicap (T) | $175,000 | 1,400m
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Schedule:
Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore
Small%20Things%20Like%20These
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Tim%20Mielants%3Cbr%3ECast%3A%20Cillian%20Murphy%2C%20Emily%20Watson%2C%20Eileen%20Walsh%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
