A Wild Night...

Just before 10 PM Paris time, Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini ended their epic...well just until tomorrow.

There are some moments in sport that you may never see again, and today I saw tennis in the dark.

Day 4 at Roland Garros was sprinkled with Federer, Venus, Cilic, Soderling, and Tsonga all winning easily. The real tennis didn't really start until late.

The most entertaining match of the women's side was defending champ Svetlana Kuznetsova, as she battled back from a set and 4 match points down VS Petkovic to win in 3. Svet looked down and out before she loosened up and took a tough match that will give her some major momentum.

The most entertaining match on the men's side, and the tournament so far hasn't even finished yet.

Tempers, a point penalty, chanting, umpires, tournament directors, darkness, match points saved, and cramping.

Those are just some words that describe what went on. Gael Monfils, 13 seed and fan favorite, took on the talented Fabio Fognini from Italy. After 2 uneventful sets that Monfils won comfortably, the real fun started.

Monfils began to take Fabio for granted and let him sneak out the 3rd set 7-5. Everyone then thought Monfils would win in 4 after he raced to a 4-1 lead. Fognini, hardly known for his heart, fought back to win 5 games in a row and take the match into a 5Th set.

Monfils went down an early break but fought to get it back. As night fell, it got nuts.

Isner/Chiudinelli got suspended with Isner down a set. Murray/Chela got suspended with Murray up a set in a drop-shot-fest.

Every court suspended play except Chatrier where Monfils and Fognini were locked at 4 all in the 5Th. The tournament director walked out onto the court to the crowd booing and had a long discussion with Monfils, Fabio, and the ump.

Apparently, Monfils wanted to continue (he has a habit of that, think VS Roddick last year) and Fabio and his camp wanted to finish tomorrow. For some reason, the director decided to let them play on, leading to a temper tantrum from Fognini for about 6 minutes. The delay then led to the ump hitting Fabio with a point penalty.

Personally, I thought the match should have been called at 4 all when every other court stopped play, but I'm certainly OK with the drama that followed.

Fabio fought off break points on his serve to hold for 5-4. This led the director to decide there was one more game to be played. ESPN2 did a great job of coverage as they showed what the court looked like without camera enhancement...it was pitch black. Pat McEnroe was great saying it was some of the best drama he's "never seen."

Monfils was serving to send the match to tomorrow and in the darkness fell down double match point at 15-40. He saved both, of course. Then came the next piece of drama...the cramps. Monfils began cramping in his leg and hobbling around. With all guts, he held serve leaving the crowd rabid, Fognini yelling at everyone he could see, and some pretty good tennis left for Day 5.

As Fabio left the court, he yelled in the direction of the umpire and tournament director.

Great drama and the true beginning to the French Open.

Day 5 will have Roddick, Rafa, Novak, Serena, and of course the completion of Monfils. Tune in to the Tennis Channel and ESPN2 for live coverage.

You can check out a recap of Day 4 and full coverage of the entire French Open on Tiebreak's Twitter HERE.

For all the scores from the day click HERE.

Tiebreak Tennis Podcast available on iTunes!

See you tomorrow,

TT