PARIS – QRG is the moniker for “Qualifications Roland Garros” around here. And Canadian Peter Polansky took the first step Tuesday towards becoming one of the “qualifiés”.
Polansky rolled over American lefty Austin Krajicek (no relation to Richard) in just over an hour, 6-2, 6-1.
He will play the winner of Maxime Teixeira of France and Jan Mertl of the Czech Republic, who weren’t able to finish their match Tuesday because of the on-and-off rain that got heavy late in the afternoon, in the second round.
Here are some photos of how it went down:
Not on this day – Krajicek was the one retrieving, and Polansky looked completely untroubled.
By the time he was down a set and 4-1, Krajicek decided he had to take drastic measures and started serving and volleying like a madman. It worked, some of the time. But it was too late by then.
The match was on Court 2, which is a show court in the front part of the complex.
The tournament allows folks with premium show-court series tickets to gain access to that front area (which contains the bullring, Court 1, adjacent Courts 2 and 3, and a couple of other courts that are mostly used for practice.
Just past Court Philippe Chatrier, there’s an entrance that leads to the rest of the complex, and that’s where those paying for qualies tickets get to go.
Needless to say, there weren’t many people on Courts 2 and 3, which is a shame. They players there would probably just as soon play on the other courts, to get a little more support.
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