Roland Garros 2013: hard battle and defeat in doubles

The 13th seed Chinese double won in 2 hours and 35 minutes in the first round of French Open.

"After we won the very hard first set we continued well the whole thing ... Then I felt that Mandy’s energy level slightly reduced. So I tried to pull her with myself, but unfortunately she made a bad service game at 3:2, which costs us the set the set ... In the final set the opponents have played more confidently. Zheng is a multiple Grand Slam winner, so she knows how to play doubles...It was a good match, so sorry for that! "- Timi said.


Timi and Mandy Minella was a finalist this year in Hobart, Australia, they won in Bogota, Colombia and Marrakech, Morocco. The Hungarian player last year reached the second round at Roland Garros with Taiwanese Hsieh Su Wei. However, this year she faced a very tough opening round match with her Luxembourgish partner.


The No-ad rule (the next rally decides after 40-40) doesn’t apply in the Grand Slam doubles tournaments, so this time the match was a very long and exciting battle. In the 70-minute first set the pairs didn’t get a break, so the tie-break decided!

The tie-break seemed smooth, the Hungarian-Luxembourgish duo had a 5-1 lead. But the Chinese double didn’t give up, but lost the fourth set point at 6-5.

In the 47-minute second set Timi and Mandy began with a break, then pulled away 3:1. However, the much more experienced Chinese pair fought back, and reached a 5:3 lead. The 13th seeds saved two break points and after that tjey had two set points. But Timi and Mandy finally broke back, but unfortunately they lost the tenth game and the set.

In the 35-minute third set set Timi and Mandy had a break point at 2:2, but the opponent saved it. In the next game the Chinese pair won the rival’s serve, which unfortunately, decided the fate of the meeting.


Timi next week will play in clay in Marseille (100 000 USD). The opponents will be – among others - Romina Oprandi, Monica Niculescu, Irina-Camelia Begu, Chanelle Scheepers, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Arantxa Rus and Mandy Minella as well.