Roland Garros: The Performance Of Latinos In The Second Grand Slam Of The Year

Roland Garros is entering a definition stage and for the first time in a while, Latin America has not placed any representative in the second week of the Singles Draw of the second Grand Slam of the year. But results from new values hint to illusions in the future. Let's review the participation of the Latinos in the main draw. 

The Argentinean Guido Pella had a good performance after passing the qualifiers and reached the second round where he lost to the world's No. 1 player Novak Djokovic. In his first encounter, he defeated Croatian Ivan Dodig in a marathon five-set match---12-10 in the final set.

His countryman, Horacio Zeballos, also surpassed the first round on a very tough game, beating the Canadian Vasek Pospisil 8-6 in the fifth set. But later he fell in the next match against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

Another Argentinean, Carlos Berlocq, was defeated in the first round. The winner was the American John Isner (19th favorite) in three sets. The same fate had his compatriot Leonardo Mayer who fell in five sets against Italian Andreas Seppi. Martin Alund, meanwhile, also had to leave the tournament in the first round, losing in four sets to local Edouard Roger-Vasselin, while Federico Delbonis reached the second round after beating German Julian Reister, but then lost against the experienced Russian Mikhail Youzhny. 

The biggest Argentinian disappointment was Juan Monaco, the 17th seed, who lost to the Spanish Daniel Gimeno-Traver in five sets after winning the first two.

The Colombian Alejandro Falla didn't have a good stay in Paris, as he retired due to injury in his first round match against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov after losing the first set. And his fellow countryman, Santiago Giraldo fared no better, falling in straight sets to Slovenian Grega Zemlja.

The Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva also said goodbye quickly, losing in straight sets to Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

The Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas beat Italian Adrian Mannarino in the first round and was defeated at the next encounter by Frenchman Gilles Simon.

But the most outstanding Latino participation in Roland Garros took place in the women's draw. The young Puerto Rican Monica Ruiz, 19, reached the third round after a great victory in the first one against Nadia Petrova (11th favorite) and against Madison Keys in the second. She was finally defeated by the Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro on an even match.

The Argentinean Paula Ormaechea, 20, also reached the third round after playing the qualifying match and beat German Tatjana Maria and Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova. In the third round she fell against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, completing an excellent participation.

Meanwhile, the Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino also passed the qualifying match and defeated Czech Kristyna Pliskova in the first round and lost in the next match against the local Marion Bartoli (13th favorite).