Yes, He Killed Kenny

I do believe that I promised to (and I quote) 'blow your mind' with my Cherbourg coverage. So I better do that. And I think that involves me... talking about Cherbourg. So what can I make up - I mean, say - today!

Important things first - Nicolas Mahut is through to the next round. Yes, he may have scraped through by the skin of his teeth, but a win is a win and I'd rather he took a tight win than a tight loss. Or any kind of loss. A third set breaker is there to determine the winner and the loser and this time he was the winner.

And yes, he killed Kenny (de Schepper).

One thing that always astonishes me about Mahut is how consistent he can be on first serve. His percentage is, in general, really, really freaking high. There's a ton of players who would amputate a limb if it meant they could regularly serve at 71%... which doesn't seem that high, but it, you know, is. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising after the whole 'why yes, John Isner, I think I will hold serve 68 times in a row' incident that happened last year, but I'm still impressed. He won 79% of first serve points as well today, which is pretty bloody good.

...although he did get taken to a third set breaker, so maybe I shouldn't be extolling his wonderment in a match where he probably didn't play his best. Though I can't be sure, on account of how I didn't see it and I'm talking about something I know zero about. But still!

Nico's doubles partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin (how many vaseline jokes do you think he gets? per day, on average?) was not so lucky, going down to Karol Beck in straights. But Stephane Robert flew that French flag high, coming up with a W against 'my name is also' Stefan Seifert.

...yeah, you can see how much I know about those dudes. HEAPS.

And the French dude who won his way to my heart through stupid trickshots is also out. Benoit Paire just went down. Pout. I want good things to happen to him.

We're on track for a Dimitrov/Mahut final, which could be anyone's game... depending who turns up. Both these dudes are capable of going Ferd and pulling out performances so terrible they make you want to cry. But then they can both (definitely) go the other way as well, so we'll see.

And at some point, I hope to actually watch a match at Cherbourg. Imagine how mindblowing my coverage will be then!