Battle Royale de Lyon

Today at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Olivier Rochus of Belgium defeated American Mardy Fish in three grueling tiebreak sets, 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 7-6(15). I followed the battle royale on the scoreboard. It wasn't even featured in the Internet live feed on channelsurfing.

The combatants had only played once and that was way back in 2002 at the now defunct Long Island tournament. Fish won that encounter 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Today would go three sets, but it was a whole nother ball game.

Fish held a matchpoint on the Belgian's serve in the second set, But Rochus saved it with one of the two aces he fired in the match. Fish fired 43, which must be a record for aces in a best-of-three match. If not, it ought to be. Five of those aces came in the third set, 32-point tiebreak down match point. All in all, Fish fought off 8 matchpoints before the diminutive one closed out the match on Fish's serve to advance to the quarterfinals in just over three hours.

Who knows how much Rochus will have left for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who dispatched of defending champ and No. 4 seed Richard Gasquet in straights.

This was a match I did see. And while the live stream buffered itself into oblivion, Muhammed Ali with a tennis racquet played as though he wanted to prove to France that he is the best Frenchman on the tour. Richie Red Shoes, trying to construct points from 15 feet behind the baseline, was outclassed from everywhere on the court.

Ali threatens to make himself the frontrunner for Outstanding Newcomer with a title run in Lyon. With the way he played today, and with Andy Roddick out, this is certainly not out of the question.

But I must ask: in this late season indoor swing that almost feels as though it's not happening, why couldn't I see the battle royale?