2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 8
In the women's doubles, Tatiana Poutchek & Anastasia Rodionova were upset in three sets by Casey Dellacqua & Francesca Schiavone in their second round match, while Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual, Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, Květa Peschke & Rennae Stubbs, and Dinara Safina & Ágnes Szávay won theirs.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 8
In the third round encounters, sixth seeds Victoria Azarenka & Shahar Pe'er defeated Chinese team Peng Shuai & Sun Tiantian after three sets, Cara Black & Liezel Huber beat Mariya Koryttseva & Vladimíra Uhlířová, and unseeded pair Nuria Llagostera Vives & María José Martínez Sánchez upset Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur. Unseeded Ashley Harkleroad & Galina Voskoboeva were the fourth team of the day to advance to the quarterfinals.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 8
On the men's side, Bob & Mike Bryan, and Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjić qualified without problems for the quarterfinals, alongside Jonas Björkman & Kevin Ullyett, whereas ninth seeds Lukáš Dlouhý & Leander Paes were eliminated by South American duo Pablo Cuevas & Luis Horna, and Australian Open champions Jonathan Erlich & Andy Ram lost to Bruno Soares & Dušan Vemić. Unseeded Belgians Steve Darcis & Olivier Rochus also secured a quarterfinal spot. Meanwhile, thirteenth-seeded František Čermák & Jordan Kerr were knocked out of the second round by Igor Kunitsyn & Dmitry Tursunov.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 8
In the mixed doubles, Zi Yan & Mark Knowles, and Victoria Azarenka & Bob Bryan advanced past the first round. Second-seeded Květa Peschke & Pavel Vízner proceeded to the quarterfinals, alongside unseeded teams Janette Husárová & André Sá, Kateryna Bondarenko & Jordan Kerr, and wild cards Virginie Razzano & Rogier Wassen. Despite their second round win in the morning, Zi Yan & Mark Knowles decided to withdraw from the mixed competition, allowing Liezel Huber & Jamie Murray to secure a quarterfinal spot.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
In the women's draw, Elena Dementieva came back from the loss of the second set to defeat compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, and reach her first quarterfinal spot in a Grand Slam since 2006. Berlin Tier I titlist, and thirteenth seed Dinara Safina saved one match point at 3–5 in the second set and overcame a 2–5 deficit in the second set tie-break, before climbing back to upset World No. 1 Maria Sharapova on the score of 6–7(6), 7–6(5), 6–2, and set up a rematch of the Berlin final against Dementieva.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
After a difficult first set, Fernando González cruised to the quarterfinals beating Robby Ginepri 7–5, 6–3, 6–1, in less than two hours.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
World No. 1 Roger Federer struggled during almost three hours, but eventually defeated unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau, by breaking in the last game of every set to win the match 6–4, 7–5, 7–5. Twenty-one-year-old, ATP No. 59 Gaël Monfils was the only French player out of the five present in the round of sixteen to advance, as he upset his opponent Ivan Ljubičić on the score of 7–6(1), 4–6, 6–3, 6–2, to reach his first quarterfinal in a Grand Slam event. David Ferrer's 4–6, 6–2, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3 win over Radek Štěpánek allowed him to become the last man qualified for the singles' quarterfinals.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
Unseeded Russian pair Igor Kunitsyn & Dmitry Tursunov advanced, and were shortly followed by the unseeded team, Janko Tipsarević & Victor Troicki, who upset fifth seeds Simon Aspelin & Julian Knowle in three close sets, to complete the men's doubles' quarterfinals' line-up. Unseeded South American team Pablo Cuevas & Luis Horna produced the biggest upset of the men's draw in the first quarterfinal match, by knocking out of the tournament World No. 1 duo Bob & Mike Bryan 6–3, 5–7, 7–6(1). In the second quarterfinal of the day, Bruno Soares & Dušan Vemić upset eight seeds Jonas Björkman & Kevin Ullyett, to advance to the semis.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
On the women's side, Yung-jan Chan & Chia-jung Chuang proceeded to the quarterfinals, alongside Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual who beat Zi Yan & Zheng Jie, unseeded Casey Dellacqua & Francesca Schiavone, who upset third seeds Květa Peschke & Rennae Stubbs, and Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, who defeated ninth-seeded Dinara Safina & Ágnes Szávay.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 9
Mixed doubles sixth seeds Cara Black & Paul Hanley were defeated by Zheng Jie & Mahesh Bhupathi in their second round encounter.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
In the women's singles, WTA No. 49, twenty-two-year-old Estonian Kaia Kanepi defeated unseeded Petra Kvitová 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, to advance to the quarterfinals, her best result thus far in a Grand Slam tournament. World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova matched her 2007 Roland-Garros performance by advancing to the quarterfinals, easily defeating sixteenth-seeded Victoria Azarenka (who had showed some good form in winning her first three matches for the loss of only six games) 6–2, 6–3.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
The first quarterfinal saw the highest seed remaining, Ana Ivanovic, beat tenth seed Patty Schnyder 6–3, 6–2, to reach her second consecutive semifinal at the French Open. She was joined in the afternoon by another 2007 French Open semifinalist, World No. 3 and Serbian No. 2 Jelena Janković, who dispatched nineteen-year-old Spanish qualifier Carla Suárez Navarro 6–3, 6–2, in little more than an hour.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
After three hours of play, ATP No. 3 Novak Djokovic came out the winner of a close three-setter against nineteen-year-old unseeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis, on the score of 7–5, 7–6(3), 7–5, to reach his fifth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. On the Philippe Chatrier central court, defending champion Rafael Nadal crushed compatriot Nicolás Almagro 6–1, 6–1, 6–1, in less than two hours, to set up a rematch of the Hamburg Masters' semifinal, and of last year's French Open semifinal, both against Djokovic.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
No. 1 seeds Cara Black & Liezel Huber defeated all-Spanish team Nuria Llagostera Vives & María José Martínez Sánchez in straight sets, in the first quarterfinal encounter of the women's doubles. On the other side of the draw, Australian Open champions Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko also advanced, beating unseeded pair Ashley Harkleroad & Galina Voskoboeva.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
Unseeded Casey Dellacqua & Francesca Schiavone were the third duo to qualify for the semifinals, upsetting sixth seeds Victoria Azarenka & Shahar Pe'er, and were followed by Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual, who defeated fourth seeds Yung-jan Chan & Chia-jung Chuang after three close sets and more than three hours of play.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjić, the only seeded players remaining in the men's doubles draw, advanced to the semifinals past Belgians Steve Darcis & Olivier Rochus in straight sets, while Igor Kunitsyn & Dmitry Tursunov continued their run in the tournament and completed the semifinal line-up, by defeating Janko Tipsarević & Victor Troicki.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 10
In the first quarterfinal matches of the mixed doubles, unseeded team Zheng Jie & Mahesh Bhupathi defeated wild cards Virginie Razzano & Rogier Wassen, and second seeds Květa Peschke & Pavel Vízner overcame Janette Husárová & André Sá. Meanwhile, first-seeded Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjić won their second round match.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
The third quarter of the women's draw was a rematch of the 2001 French Open girls' singles final, but the unseeded twenty-two-year-old Estonian Kaia Kanepi, victor in 2001, was defeated this time by her opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova, now the WTA No. 4, in little less than an-hour-and-a-half, on the score of 7–5, 6–2, allowing the Russian to reach her fourth Grand Slam semifinal, and her second at the French Open, after an appearance in 2006.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
Dinara Safina repeated her drama-filled performance of the fourth round as she saved one match point against Elena Dementieva at 3–5 in the second set, before climbing back and crushing her adversary in the final set to claim a 4–6, 7–6(5), 6–0 victory, secure her first Grand Slam semifinal spot, and set an all-Russian clash against Kuznetsova.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
Fernando González made a powerful start at the beginning of his quarterfinal against Roger Federer, winning the first set 6–2 in only twenty-four minutes, before the World No. 1 took back the control of the match and easily won the following sets, to end the encounter on the score of 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–4, and advance to his sixteenth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, his fourth in Roland-Garros.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
In the last quarterfinal of the men's singles, ATP No. 59, twenty-one-year-old Gaël Monfils, winner of the Juniors competition at the 2004 French Open, became the first French player to go past the round of eight in Roland-Garros since 2001, as he upset fifth seed David Ferrer 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1, to set a semifinal against Federer, already the third encounter between the two players in 2008.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
Unseeded team Casey Dellacqua & Francesca Schiavone proceeded to their first Grand Slam final by defeating Australian Open champions Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko 6–2, 6–1. In the second semifinal of the women's doubles, World No. 1 Cara Black & Liezel Huber were upset in straight sets 6–4, 7–6(2), by Anabel Medina Garrigues, who advanced to her first Grand Slam final, & Virginia Ruano Pascual, who reached her fifteenth Grand Slam final, and her seventh at the French Open.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 11
In the mixed competition, third seeds Victoria Azarenka & Bob Bryan were the last players to qualify for the quarterfinals, by beating Vladimíra Uhlířová & Mariusz Fyrstenberg, while first seeds Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjić defeated unseeded Kateryna Bondarenko & Jordan Kerr to be the third team to advance to the semifinals. Victoria Azarenka & Bob Bryan played a second match at the end of the day, and proceeded past unseeded Liezel Huber & Jamie Murray to complete the semifinals line-up.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
On "Ladies Days", Berlin champion, WTA No. 14 Dinara Safina advanced to her first ever Grand Slam final, dominating World No. 4 and 2006 French Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova during nearly an-hour-and-a-half, to eventually claim victory on the score of 6–3, 6–2. Kuznetsova's loss, following Sharapova's fourth round exit, meant that the second semifinal between Australian Open finalist and Indian Wells Tier I titlist Ana Ivanovic and Rome winner Jelena Janković was bound to decide who would be the next World No. 1.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
Janković took the first advantage in the match, leading 4–2 when Ivanovic made a comeback and snatched the first set, extending her dominance to the midst of the second, when she saw her adversary win seven games in a row, even the score to one-set-all, and take the early advantage in the final set.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
Ivanovic broke back once to 3–3 but lost her serve, before breaking again to even the score at 4–4, win her serve, and take Janković's to finally win, after over two hours of play, on the score of 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, advance to her third Grand Slam final, her second consecutive in Roland-Garros, and be assured to become the new World No. 1 on June 9, 2008.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
The first semifinal of the men's doubles, that opposed unseeded Uruguyan Pablo Cuevas & Peruvian Luis Horna to alternates Brazilian Bruno Soares & Serbian Dušan Vemić, lasted almost three hours and extended to a third set tie-break, until Cuevas & Horna took a final advantage, to score a 6–4, 6–7(6), 7–6(6) victory, and advance to their first Grand Slam final.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
After losing the first set to unseeded Russian pair Igor Kunitsyn & Dmitry Tursunov, second seeded Daniel Nestor, the defending champion, & new partner Nenad Zimonjić battled to take back the advantage, ultimately winning the match, and reach their first Grand Slam final together on the score of 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 12
In the mixed category, Zheng Jie & Mahesh Bhupathi withdrew, consequently offering a final spot to their opponents Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjić, who reached their third consecutive French Open final together, having previously won in 2006, and lost in 2007. The second semifinal was played in the afternoon, and saw Victoria Azarenka & Bob Bryan defeat Czech team Květa Peschke & Pavel Vízner 4–6, 6–3, 10–8, to advance to their first Grand Slam mixed doubles final together.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
The first men's singles semifinal, which opposed World No. 2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal to World No. 3 and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, saw the Spaniard dominating his opponent throughout two-and-a-half sets, until Djokovic made a comeback, breaking Nadal several times to extend the match to a third set tie-break. Nadal won six consecutive points in the tie-break, to finally win the encounter at his fourth match point on the score of 6–4, 6–2, 7–6(3), to advance to his fourth consecutive French Open final.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
World No. 1 Roger Federer made a strong start in the second semifinal that opposed him to ATP No. 59 Gaël Monfils, winning the first set in thirty minutes and breaking early in the second, before Monfils fought back, and broke the Swiss to snatch the second set.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
Federer cruised again in the third, before the match evened in the fourth, each player saving break points, until Federer took the Frenchman's serve at 6–5, to win on the final score of 6–2, 5–7, 6–3, 7–5, after three hours of play, and advance to his sixteenth Grand Slam final, his third consecutive one in Roland-Garros, a third time against Nadal.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
Tenth-seeded, all Spanish-team Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual competed with unseeded Australian Casey Dellacqua & Italian Francesca Schiavone for the women's doubles title. Dellacqua & Schiavone commanded the game in the first set, winning 6–2 in nearly forty minutes, before their adversaries broke to 6–5 in the second, and won their serve to come back to one-set-all. Garrigues & Ruano Pascual broke in the first game of the third set, kept their advantage up to 4–3, when Dellacqua & Schiavone broke back to 4–all.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
Garrigues & Ruano Pascual managed to immediately take their opponents' serve again and keep theirs to win the match 2–6, 7–5, 6–4, after two-hours-and-a-half. In becoming the 2008 French Open women's doubles champions, Anabel Medina Garrigues won her first ever Grand Slam doubles title, & Virginia Ruano Pascual, a fifteen-time Grand Slam doubles finalist, holder of eight titles, won her fifth victory at the French Open.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
The final of the mixed doubles took place between first seeds Slovene Katarina Srebotnik & Serbian Nenad Zimonjić, and third seeds Victoria Azarenka, from Belarus & Bob Bryan, from the USA. After easily winning the first set 6–2 in only twenty-two minutes, Azarenka & Bryan saw their adversaries even the competition, as Srebotnik & Zimonjic held their serve to a second set tie-break, in which they even took the early advantage, leading 4–3.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 13
Azarenka & Bryan were able to break back, and win four points in a row to eventually claim victory on the score of 6–2, 7–6(5), in little more than an hour. Victoria Azarenka, already the 2007 US Open mixed doubles champion, and the 2007 Australian Open mixed doubles runner-up, & Bob Bryan, finalist of the mixed doubles competition in Wimbledon 2006, and winner at the US Open in 2003, 2004, and 2006, won their first Grand Slam title together, becoming the new Roland-Garros mixed doubles champions.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
The women's singles final was played by then WTA No. 2 Ana Ivanovic, the 2007 French Open and 2008 Australian Open runner-up, assured to become World No. 1 on June 9, 2008 regardless of the result, and thirteenth seed Dinara Safina, the Berlin Tier I titlist, in her first ever Grand Slam final appearance. Ivanovic made the strongest start in the match, taking Safina's serve in the opening game, and once more at 3–1, to open a 4–1 lead in the first set.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
Safina started to take back the advantage, as she broke the Serbian twice and won her own serve to come back at 4–4. Ivanovic immediately recovered her break, and eventually kept her serve at 5–4, to close the first set on the score of 6–4. Ivanovic broke the Russian for a 2–1 lead in the second set, and continued to dominate Safina up to the seventh game, where she held double-break balls at 4–2.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
Af the end of this long game, in which both players repeatedly took and lost the advantage, Safina ultimately kept her serve, but the Russian was unable to attack Ivanovic in the following game, and found herself serving to stay in the match at 3–5. The Serbian pressured Safina, and eventually broke her a final time, to win the match on the score of 6–4, 6–3, after ninety-eight minutes of play.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
Both players received their trophies from the hands of former World No. 1 and 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007 French Open champion Justine Henin in the awards ceremony that followed, which crowned Ivanovic, a first-time Grand Slam winner, as the new Roland-Garros women's singles champion. Ivanovic became the first Serbian winner of a Grand Slam women's singles title, and the second Serbian overall after Novak Djokovic's win at the 2008 Australian Open. It would be the last time that Ana Ivanovic would feature past the Round of 16 at any Grand Slam tournament until the 2012 US Open.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
The men's doubles final featured second seeds Canadian Daniel Nestor, a nine-time Grand Slam doubles finalist, winner of the 2007 French Open with Mark Knowles, & Serbian Nenad Zimonjić, a two-time doubles final runner-up in Wimbledon, and unseeded South American duo, composed of Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, No. 50 in the doubles rankings, & Peruvian Luis Horna, No. 43 in the doubles rankings, on their first ever Grand Slam final appearance separately and together.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
The unseeded South Americans completely dominated the seasoned champions during the final, breaking them twice in each set, never losing their serve themselves, to crush Nestor & Zimonjic in only fifty-six minutes, on the score of 6–2, 6–3, and win their first doubles title together.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 14
Pablo Cuevas & Luis Horna knocked out four seeded teams, Arnaud Clément & Michaël Llodra, Lukáš Dlouhý & Leander Paes, World No. 1 pair Bob & Mike Bryan, and ultimately Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjić on their way to becoming the first South American team to win a Men's Doubles Grand Slam title, and the 2008 French Open men's doubles champions.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 15
The men's singles final took place at 15:00 (UTC+2) on the Philippe Chatrier Central Court, and featured, for the third straight year after 2006 and 2007, the World No. 1 and holder of twelve Grand Slam titles, Roger Federer, and ATP No. 2 Rafael Nadal, the winner in Roland-Garros since 2005. Federer decided to serve after being given the choice, but the Spaniard immediately attacked the Swiss' serve, and broke him, winning his own service game to quickly open a 2–0 lead.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 15
Though Federer won his following serve, he was not able in the rest of the set to convert the few break points he had on Nadal's serve, or win his own service games, allowing the Spaniard to close the first set in thirty-two minutes, on the score of 6–1. Despite being broken in the beginning of the second set, Federer started to fight back, as he finally took Nadal's serve, came back to 2–2, and held to 3–3.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 15
After a long game on Federer's serve, Nadal finally broke once more, and rapidly finished the set on the score of 6–3, after forty-nine minutes. There was no competition in what would become the final set as Nadal left no chances to Federer, and the Swiss was not able to find a second breath to start a comeback, not winning any game in the twenty-seven minutes set, and suffering a bagel for the first time in a Grand Slam since a 1999 Roland-Garros first round loss to Pat Rafter.


2008 French Open, Day-by-day summaries, Day 15
Particularly relevant to the outcome of their meeting were Federer's thirty-five unforced errors to Nadal's seven during the brief match which never allowed him to gain a foothold. Rafael Nadal claimed his fourth consecutive French Open crown, on the final score of 6–1, 6–3, 6–0, and in becoming the 2008 French Open champion equalled Björn Borg's record of four straight Roland-Garros titles, and extended his win-loss record at the tournament to 28–0.


2008 French Open, Singles seeds
The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings are based on ATP and WTA rankings as of 19 May 2008. Rankings and points are as of before 26 May 2008.


2008 French Open, Singles seeds, Men's Singles
† The player did not qualify for the tournament in 2007. Accordingly, points for his 18th best result are deducted instead.


2008 French Open, Singles seeds, Men's Singles
The following player would have been seeded, but he withdrew from the event.


2008 French Open, Singles seeds, Women's Singles
The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew or not entered from the event.


2008 French Open, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Pablo Cuevas /  Luis Horna defeated  Daniel Nestor /  Nenad Zimonjić, 6–2, 6–3


2008 French Open, Seniors, Women's Doubles
Anabel Medina Garrigues /  Virginia Ruano Pascual defeated  Casey Dellacqua /  Francesca Schiavone, 2–6, 7–5, 6–4


2008 French Open, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
Victoria Azarenka /  Bob Bryan defeated  Katarina Srebotnik /  Nenad Zimonjić, 6–2, 7–6(7–4)


2008 French Open, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Henri Kontinen /  Christopher Rungkat defeated  Jaan-Frederik Brunken /  Matt Reid, 6–0, 6–3


2008 French Open, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Polona Hercog /  Jessica Moore defeated  Lesley Kerkhove /  Arantxa Rus, 5–7, 6–1, 10–7


2008 French Open, Other events, Legends under 45 Doubles
Goran Ivanišević /  Michael Stich defeated  Richard Krajicek /  Emilio Sánchez, 6–1, 7–6(5)


2008 French Open, Other events, Legends Over 45 Doubles
Anders Järryd /  John McEnroe defeated  Mansour Bahrami /  Henri Leconte, 6–4, 7–6(2)


2008 French Open, Other events, Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Shingo Kunieda /  Maikel Scheffers defeated  Robin Ammerlaan /  Ronald Vink, 6–2, 7–5


2008 French Open, Other events, Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Jiske Griffioen /  Esther Vergeer  defeated   Korie Homan /  Sharon Walraven, 6–4, 6–4


2008 French Open, Wildcard entries
Below are the lists of the wildcard awardees entering in the main draws.


2008 French Open, Qualifier entries, Men's Qualifiers entries
The following players received entry into a lucky loser spot:


2008 French Open, Qualifier entries, Women's Qualifiers entries
The following players received entry into a lucky loser spot:


2008 French Open – Boys' Doubles
Thomas Fabbiano and Andrei Karatchenia were the defending champions, but did not compete in the Juniors that year.


2008 French Open – Boys' Doubles
Henri Kontinen and Christopher Rungkat won in the final 6–0, 6–3, against Jaan-Frederik Brunken and Matt Reid.


2008 French Open – Boys' Singles
The 2008 French Open – Boys' Singles tournament was an event during the 2008 French Open tennis tournament. Vladimir Ignatic was the defending champion, but did not compete in the Juniors in this year.


2008 French Open – Boys' Singles
Tsung-hua Yang won in the final 6–3, 7–6(5), against Jerzy Janowicz.


2008 French Open – Girls' Doubles
Ksenia Milevskaya and Urszula Radwańska were the defending champions, but did not compete in the juniors that year.


2008 French Open – Girls' Doubles
Polona Hercog and Jessica Moore won the tournament, defeating Lesley Kerkhove and Arantxa Rus in the final, 5–7, 6–1, [10–7].


2008 French Open – Girls' Singles
Simona Halep won the tournament, defeating Elena Bogdan in the final, 6–4, 6–7(3–7), 6–2. Halep would go on to win the senior title for her maiden Grand Slam singles title ten years later.


2008 French Open – Girls' Singles
Alizé Cornet was the defending champion, but did not compete in the juniors that year.


2008 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles
Anders Järryd and John McEnroe were the defending champions, and won in the final 6–4, 7–6(2), against Mansour Bahrami and Henri Leconte.


2008 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2008 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2008 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles
Arnaud Boetsch and Guy Forget were the defending champions, but lost in the round robin.


2008 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles
Goran Ivanišević and Michael Stich won in the final 6–1, 7–6(5), against Richard Krajicek and Emilio Sánchez.


2008 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2008 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2008 French Open – Men's Doubles
Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor were the defending champions, but did not compete together. Knowles partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi, but lost in the first round to Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins. Nestor partnered with Nenad Zimonjić, and reached the final before losing to Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna.


2008 French Open – Men's Singles
Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal successfully defended his title, defeating Roger Federer in the final 6–1, 6–3, 6–0 to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 2008 French Open. It was his fourth French Open title and his fourth Major title overall. This marks Federer's worst loss at a Grand Slam match in his entirecareer. It also marked the third consecutive year that Nadal defeated Federer in the French Open final, and the fourth consecutive year that Nadal defeated Federer at Roland Garros (extending back to their 2005 semifinal encounter).


2008 French Open – Men's Singles
On all four occasions that Nadal won the French Open, he defeated Federer while the latter was the world No. 1 player. Nadal won the title without losing a set, becoming the third man in the Open Era after Ilie Năstase and Björn Borg to do so. He would later replicate this feat in 2010, 2017, and 2020.


2008 French Open – Men's Singles
This was the final major and professional appearance of former world No. 1 and three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten. He lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round and retired from professional tennis shortly thereafter. It was also the last major for 2004 French Open finalist and former world No. 3 Guillermo Coria, who lost in the first round to Tommy Robredo in four sets, and the last French Open appearance for 1999 semifinalist Dominik Hrbatý.


2008 French Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2008 French Open – Men's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for men's singles at the 2008 French Open.


2008 French Open – Mixed Doubles
Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram were the defending champions, but lost in the first round to Dominika Cibulková and Gaël Monfils.


2008 French Open – Mixed Doubles
Victoria Azarenka and Bob Bryan won in the final 6–2, 7–6(7–4), against Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić.


2008 French Open – Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Stéphane Houdet and Michaël Jeremiasz were the defending champions, but Jeremiasz chose not to participate, and only Houdet competed that year. Houdet partnered with Nicolas Peifer, but lost in the semifinals to Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink.


2008 French Open – Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Shingo Kunieda and Maikel Scheffers won in the final 6–2, 7–5, against Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink.


2008 French Open – Wheelchair Men's Singles
Shingo Kunieda was the defending champion, and won in the final 6–0, 7–6(5), against Robin Ammerlaan.


2008 French Open – Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Maaike Smit and Esther Vergeer were the defending champions, but Smit chose not to participate, and only Vergeer competed that year. Vergeer partnered with Jiske Griffioen, and won in the final 6–4, 6–4, against Korie Homan and Sharon Walraven.


2008 French Open – Wheelchair Women's Singles
Esther Vergeer was the defending champion, and won in the final 6–2, 6–2, against Korie Homan.


2008 French Open – Women's Doubles
Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo were the defending champions, but lost in the first round to Sara Errani and Bethanie Mattek.


2008 French Open – Women's Doubles
Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual won the title, defeating Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone in the final 2–6, 7–5, 6–4.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles
Ana Ivanovic won her first and only Grand Slam singles title, beating first-time finalist Dinara Safina, 6–4, 6–3 to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 2008 French Open. Ivanovic became the new WTA singles No. 1 by reaching the final. Maria Sharapova (the incumbent World No. 1 ahead of the tournament following Henin's retirement), Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova were also in contention for the No. 1 ranking at the start of the tournament. Ivanovic dropped only one set the entire tournament, to her compatriot Janković in the semifinals. This marked the last time Ivanovic would reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal for four and a half years until she reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 US Open, a span of 18 Grand Slam tournaments.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles
Safina had come from a set and match point down in both her fourth round and quarterfinal matches against Sharapova and Elena Dementieva, respectively.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles
Justine Henin was the three-time defending champion, but she retired from the sport on May 14, 2008. Her retirement left Serena Williams as the only former French Open champion remaining in the women's draw. Williams was defeated in the third round by Katarina Srebotnik, meaning that there would be a first-time French Open champion in 2008.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles
This was also the first Grand Slam main draw appearance of future world No. 2 and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová, who lost to Kaia Kanepi in fourth round.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2008 French Open – Women's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for the Women's Singles at the 2008 French Open.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election
An early legislative election to the Assembly of French Polynesia was held in French Polynesia in early 2008. The first round of the election was held on 27 January 2008, with the second round held on 10 February 2008. The early elections was the first one to be conducted under a reformed electoral system.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, New electoral system
The new system, approved in France on 26 November 2007, was meant to stabilise the chaotic French Polynesian political scene. Under the new system, a two-round election system was promulgated, and candidates from any political party require at least 12.5% of the vote to enter the second round of voting, and a general electoral threshold of 5% was set.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, 2007 political crisis
In July 2007, Former French Polynesian President Gaston Tong Sang was heavily criticized by Gaston Flosse, former President and the founder of Tong Sang's party, Tahoeraa Huiraatira. Flosse accused Tong Sang of caving in too easily to the demands of some of French Polynesia's minor coalition parties and ignoring the needs of Tahoeraa Huiraatira.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, 2007 political crisis
Critics of Flosse asserted that the attack was merely a move by Flosse to regain the presidency, an accusation bolstered by revelations that Flosse had "secret talks" with Oscar Temaru, former President and a leading pro-independence politician who has been Flosse's long time political opponent in the past. According to reports, the talks were aimed at ousting Sang from office and setting up a unity platform between Flosse and Temaru's respective political parties.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, 2007 political crisis
On 29 August 2007, a no confidence motion was introduced by Temaru's Union for Democracy (UPLD). The UPLD said that the no confidence motion against Tong Sang was based on the fact that he had only small support in the Assembly, thus losing his legitimacy to govern. Tong Sang's own Tahoeraa Huiraatira party asked him to resign ahead of the vote of no confidence against him. Tong Sang refused the calls from his party to step down.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, 2007 political crisis
Tong Sang's government fell after the vote of no confidence was passed by French Polynesia's 57 member Assembly on August 31. The motion Sang was passed by a majority 35 members of the Assembly, including some members of the governing Tahoera'a Huiraatira party. Tong Sang tried to save his government by offering Tahoer'a Huiraatira 7 ministerial posts. The deal was refused.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, 2007 political crisis
The motion against Tong Sang was the first time that Oscar Temaru's Union for Democracy and Gaston Flosse's Tahoera'a Huiraatira party formed a de facto alliance to oust a sitting French Polynesian government.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, Post-crisis
After his ouster from government, Gaston Tong Sang left Tahoera'a Huiraatira and founded a new party, O Porinetia To Tatou Ai'a. The new party, from the onset, had 6 members in the Assembly, all former members of Tahoera'a Huiraatira.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, Post-crisis
After Tong Sang's ouster, which was the third time a French Polynesian government was ousted from power via motions of no confidence since 2004, calls for electoral reform were heard. This culminated in an electoral reform package that was passed by France in November of the same year.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Events leading up to the election, Post-crisis
After elections were announced, President of French Polynesia Oscar Temaru stated that he would prefer to have elections after the French municipal elections in March 2008.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Election results
† These parties only contested the election in the constituency of the Marquesas Islands; the Union for Democracy and Tahoera'a Huiraatira also contested the election in that constituency, and as a second round was not necessary there, the total numbers reflect the results of the first round in the Marquesas Islands and the results of the second round in all the other constituencies.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Election results
To Tatou Ai'a did not contest the elections in Tuamotu Islands West and the Marquesas Islands; Te Niu Hau Manahune contested Tuamotu West for the alliance.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Election results
The Union for Democracy did not contest the elections in the Austral Islands; Tapura Amui No Te Faatereraa Manahune – Tuhaa Pae contested the constituency for the alliance.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Coalition negotiations
According to reports, the two pro-autonomy/anti-independence factions were likely to agree to form the government for the next five years, but coalition talks broke down on 20 February 2008. The President of the Assembly was decided to be elected on 22 February 2008, with presidential elections in the Assembly to follow on 24 February 2008.


2008 French Polynesian legislative election, Coalition negotiations
In the election for the President of the Assembly, the incumbent Edouard Fritch was reelected with 36 votes while the pro-independence candidate Antony Géros received 21 votes; one of the 37 pro-autonomy MPs had therefore evidently voted for Géros.


2008 French Polynesian presidential election
An indirect presidential election was held in French Polynesia on 24 February 2008 following the legislative election held on 27 January and 10 February 2008. It had originally been planned to be held in late February or early March, but was brought forward after an agreement by the three party groups in the Assembly.


2008 French Polynesian presidential election
In the first two rounds, an absolute majority is required to be elected, and in the third round, a relative majority suffices; should two candidates be tied in the third round, the older one is declared elected.


2008 French Polynesian presidential election
Gaston Flosse was reelected with the support of the pro-independence Union for Democracy with 29 to 27 votes.


2008 French Road Cycling Cup
The 2008 French Road Cycling Cup is the seventeenth edition of the French Road Cycling Cup. It started on February 24 with the Tour du Haut Var and finished on October 9 with Paris–Bourges. Jérôme Pineau of Bouygues Télécom won the overall competition, despite not winning any of the races.


2008 French Senate election
Indirect Senate elections were held for 114 of the 343 seats in the French Senate on 21 September 2008. With this election, the number of senators was increased from 331 to 343; Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin elected two senators each for the first time. Furthermore, this election was the last to be held under the old system: prior to this election, senators were elected in three classes for nine-year terms. Under the new system instituted in 2011, senators are elected for six-year terms in two classes.


2008 French Senate election, New seats
Twelve new seats were filled in this election. They were divided in the following way: 1 new Senator each for the Ain, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, Eure-et-Loir, Haute-Garonne, Gironde, Hérault, and Guyane départements and one in French Polynesia.


2008 French Senate election, New seats
The election marked the first time that French Polynesia had two seats in the Senate instead of just one. The President of French Polynesia Gaston Tong Sang and another member of his coalition,  Béatrice Vernaudon, a former member of the French National Assembly who lost her seat in June 2007, contested the seats. Former French Polynesian President Gaston Flosse ran for his Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party and teamed up with Richard Tuheiava, a member of the pro-independence party Union for Democracy.


2008 French Senate election, System, Electoral college
For the 114 seats up for election, the electoral college was composed of 50,720 elected officials (49,602 in metropolitan France). Of these, 48,453 were local councillors, 178 were MPs, 765 were regional councillors and 1,504 were general councillors.


2008 French Super Series
The 2008 French Super Series is the tenth tournament of the 2008 BWF Super Series in badminton. It was held in Paris, France from October 28 to November 2, 2008.


2008 French White Paper on Defence and National Security
The 2008 French White Paper on Defence and National Security was a  defence reform of the French Armed Forces. On 31 July 2007, president Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean-Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a 35-member commission charged with a wide-ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its white paper (French: livre blanc) in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defence policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. The proposed force structure was to be complete by 2014-15.


2008 French cantonal elections
Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100  departments were held on 9 and 16 March 2008. These elections coincided with the municipal elections, in which the left did well.


2008 French cantonal elections, Electoral system
The cantonal elections use a two-round system similar to that employed in the country's legislative elections.


2008 French mistaken virginity case
On 1 April 2008, the high court of Lille (France) annulled a marriage on the grounds of "mistaken essential qualities of the spouse" in accordance with article 180 paragraph 2 [archive] of the French civil code. The woman was not a virgin at the time of the marriage ceremony, but had not admitted this to the man even though she knew that her status as a virgin was a determining factor in his motivation and consent to marry her. According to this initial court ruling, this was sufficient to declare the marriage annulled and therefore not to be recognized as a lawful marriage.


2008 French mistaken virginity case
At the end of May 2008, a controversy ensued and several public figures, politicians, religious figures and intellectuals reacted to the decision. Following these events, the Minister of Justice Rachida Dati asked the Ministère public, namely the Procureur général of Douai, to make an appeal against the wishes of the couple. The appeal was lodged to the high court of Douai, on 3 June 2008.


2008 French mistaken virginity case
On 17 November 2008, the judgment of the high court was declared null by the court of appeals. Since the annulment of the marriage was itself annulled, the final ruling was that the man and woman had been, and remained, legally married.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts
On 8 July 2006, the couple held a marriage ceremony at Mons-en-Barœl. The man, born in 1976 in Morocco, was an engineering consultant. The woman was French, of Moroccan descent, born in 1983 in the North of France, and was a nursing student. Both were of Muslim faith.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts
At around four in the morning, after the couple had retired to their bedroom, the man returned to the guests and angrily informed them that the woman was not a virgin.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, The plea of the former husband, accepted by the wife
On 26 July 2006, the man filed for an annulment to the high court of Lille. He pleaded the fact that his wife had been presented to him as chaste before the marriage. It would therefore be an annulment on the grounds of ‘mistaken essential qualities of the spouse [...] which were determining factors in his consent’, in accordance with article 180 paragraph 2 of the French civil code  concerning a ‘mistake regarding the person’. The wife approved the annulment, while the Ministère public ‘declares it has put its trust in justice’.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, The plea of the former husband, accepted by the wife
On 1 April 2008, the high court of Lille announced the annulment of the marriage on the basis of article 180 of the civil code. The woman's acceptance of the request allowed it to be deduced that she had known that her virginity constituted, in the view of her husband, an essential quality with regards to the consent to the proposed marriage.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, Appeal of the prosecution against the will of the parties
Although having initially approved the court's decision, on 2 June 2008 the Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati, asked the parquet to lodge an appeal against the judgment, which was filed on 3 June  (this appeal may still be admissible, the one-month period available to the Ministère public to file it according to certain people is to be calculated from the notification of the judgement to him or her; this analysis is backed up by article 528 of the civil procedure code which indicates that: ‘The period at the expiry of which an appeal may no longer be lodged runs from the notification of the ruling, unless this period has started, by law, from the date of the ruling’).


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, Appeal of the prosecution against the will of the parties
The judgement being provided by provisional enforcement, the parquet also summoned the parties in emergency interim proceedings, (including the civil official of Mons-en-Barœul) to request his judgment. The hearing took place on 12 June and the decision was made on 19 June. The court announced the end of the provisional enforcement of the annulment ruling, invoking the risk of an ‘irreparable prejudice, for both parties as well as for public order’.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, Appeal of the prosecution against the will of the parties
One of the objectives is to prevent the risk of having to annul a second marriage which would be contracted after the annulment of the first one, the annulment decision susceptible to being reversed. Consequently, the transcription of the annulment in the marriage register was suspended and the two people remained married.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, Appeal of the prosecution against the will of the parties
The court of appeals examined the case on 22 September 2008. The woman's lawyer, Mr Mauger, declared that he would request an annulment of the marriage, but for different reasons than those given in the previous instance. The parquet considered grounds such as mistaken identity, lack of cohabitation or lack of consent. The judgement had to be given on 17 November,,.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, The annulment of the Douai Court of Appeal
On 17 November 2008, the Court of Appeal of Douai overturned the decision. The Court considered that the woman's virginity had not been cited by the husband as a necessary condition of the marriage. In fact, the husband indicated in his pleadings that the mistake was not about virginity but about the confidence he had in his wife, and that virginity was merely an expectation. According to him, his wife's lie caused a mistake with regards to the essential quality of the confidence he had in her. The Court rejected this argument, because the lie, contested by the wife, could not be proven.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, The annulment of the Douai Court of Appeal
Nevertheless, commenting on the possibility of virginity being an essential quality, the Court clarified that in any event, the wife's virginity cannot be considered as an essential quality since it has no negative impact on married life. The Court equally rejected the annulment application formulated by the wife, who alleged that her husband did not have ‘the willingness to accept, even the capacity to understand the obligation of respect between spouses’ because ‘the facts do not allow the characterisation of a mistake of the wife on essential qualities of the husband’.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Legal facts, The annulment of the Douai Court of Appeal
Since the annulment of the marriage was annulled, the spouses are still legally married.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The husband
The version of events given by the husband is known from the summary of his statement drawn up by the court: his future wife had been presented to him as single and chaste and it was only on the night of the marriage that she admitted a previous liaison. Because of this lie, the trust necessary for a marital relationship seemed to him to be lacking, justifying the annulment of the marriage.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The husband
Once the case was mediatised, the husband's lawyer, Mr Xavier Labbée,   explained his client's position. He notably exposed that the wife had had a long previous liaison, never mentioned before the marriage, and underlined again that it was above all due to this concealment that his client wished to be released from matrimonial ties –  even if the lack of virginity had also played a role.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The husband
Mr Xavier Labbée underlined additionally that religion had nothing to do with the court's decision, and said that certain comments which have highlighted it without subtlety are 'scandalous' (his summons, however, refers to a "community where it is tradition that a wife remains a virgin until marriage"); he additionally said that an annulment has an advantage over a divorce since it helps the woman to 'start afresh'.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The wife
The woman's lawyer, Mr Charles-Édouard Mauger, explained the version of events from his client's point of view. The future spouses had met two years before the marriage, during which time the woman did not have 'the strength' to explain to her fiancé that she was no longer a virgin; she had even considered an operation to reconstruct her hymen. On their wedding night, her angry husband had announced the news to the guests, at four in the morning before immediately driving back to his parents' house.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The wife
Mr Mauger wanted to point out that he had found his client have been suffering greatly. He then explained his decision to 'accept the annulment': it was not for him a 'submission' but a strategy allowing ‘technical escape’ of a procedure that risked being long, but in which he was convinced that his client would have been able to obtain justice if she had chosen to oppose her husband's request. Ultimately, the court's decision satisfied her entirely since it 'allowed her to regain her freedom'.


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The wife
The wife has also deeply criticised the way in which this case was dealt with; she is also angry about not being consulted on the appeal decision:


2008 French mistaken virginity case, Points of view of the spouses, The wife
"Hearing everyone talking about me is very difficult," she said. "I am not the leader of a movement, I do not claim responsibility for anything. Since the beginning I've had to go through everything in this case. [ ...] That there can be an appeal against the ruling when I never asked for that outrages me. I just want to be able to live my life normally."


2008 French motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2008 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 16–18 May 2008 at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. It was also the final all-Yamaha podium until the 2014 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix.


2008 French motorcycle Grand Prix, 125 cc classification
The race was stopped after 14 laps due to rain. It was later restarted for 5 additional laps, with the grid determined by the running order before the suspension. The second part of the race determined the final result.


2008 French motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round five has concluded.


2008 French municipal elections
The French municipal elections of 2008 were held on 9 and 16 March to elect the municipal councils of France's 36,782 communes. The first task of each newly constituted municipal council was to elect a mayor.


2008 French municipal elections
Municipal councilors, and the mayors they elect, ordinarily serve a term of six years. However those who took office following the last municipal elections, held on 11 and 18 March 2001, had their terms extended to seven years by an Act of the French parliament designed to avoid an overloading of the electoral calendar in 2007.


2008 French municipal elections, Results
The left gained back grounds lost in 2001 and in previous elections and sent a message of warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy, in power since 2007. The PS gained cities like Toulouse, Strasbourg, Amiens, Saint-Étienne and Reims. The left also held on easily to most of its cities, including Paris and Lyon. The close election in Marseille, however, was won by the UMP incumbent. The right did poorly but held on to some of its cities like Bordeaux, Le Havre, Nice, Toulon or Aix-en-Provence. Among right-wing gains were the cities of Chaumont, Le-Puy-en-Velay, and Calais (ending 37 years of Communist control).


2008 French municipal elections, Results
François Bayrou's centrist MoDem did poorly, although MoDem incumbents generally won. However, Bayrou himself was defeated (by the PS) in his hometown of Pau. Between the two rounds the MoDem followed three strategies- maintain its list in the runoffs, if qualified; ally with the right (as in Toulouse); or ally with the left (as in Marseille).


2008 French municipal elections, Results
The far-right FN did extremely poorly, winning only 0.93% nationwide and qualifying for the runoff in only 7 cities with 30,000+ population (40 in 2001, 105 in 1995).


2008 French municipal elections, Results
The Greens regained grounds lost in 2007, the most notable Green gain was by Dominique Voynet in Montreuil. However, the Green vote was halved in Paris over 2001.


2008 French municipal elections, Results
The PCF held most of its ground in its Seine-Saint-Denis strongholds (despite most incumbents facing Socialist candidates) but also in other PCF cities (Nanterre, Arles). It gained Dieppe and Vierzon while losing Calais (to UMP) and Aubervilliers (to PS).


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Paris
The popular Socialist incumbent Bertrand Delanoë was very easily re-elected. Françoise de Panafieu represented the centre-right UMP as the right tried, in vain, to regain the capital. Among high-profile candidates on her lists is the Justice Minister Rachida Dati, UMP elected in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Bordeaux
In Bordeaux, the incumbent Mayor and former Prime Minister Alain Juppé, defeated in the 2007 parliamentary election, stood for re-election. The Socialist candidate was Aquitaine President Alain Rousset. The centrist MoDem, led by François Bayrou, announced its support for Juppé. Juppé was re-elected by the first round with over 56% of votes cast, even improving over 2001.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Lyon
In 2001, the Socialist Gérard Collomb won the country's second largest city from the UDF. Lyon had been considered a stronghold for the centrist UDF in previous years. In 2008, former UMP Transportation Minister Dominique Perben tried to win back the city. Surprisingly, the two highly presumed candidates for the centrist MoDem and the far-right National Front, Azouz Begag and Bruno Gollnisch respectively both announced their intentions not to stand.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Lyon
In February, after a fight with MoDem leader François Bayrou, the MoDem list leader integrated the UMP list, but Bayrou found another list leader. The MoDem list was also shaken after one of its list was rejected because one of its candidates was also on a FN list.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Lyon
With his sky-high popularity, Collomb was re-elected by the first round and Perben himself was defeated in his sector.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Marseille
In the country's third largest city, Jean-Claude Gaudin of the UMP faced Socialist Senator Jean-Noël Guérini, FN candidate Stéphane Ravier, and MoDem MEP Jean-Luc Bennahmias. The race was very close and both sides had a chance to win, but Gaudin was re-elected narrowly.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Nice
The right was divided in this generally right-wing city, with incumbent mayor Jacques Peyrat staging a dissident candidacy against UMP candidate Christian Estrosi. Estrosi won 38% to Peyrat's 23%. However, the PS candidate Patrick Allemand, with his 22%, also qualified for a three-way runoff.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Rennes
In this Socialist city, longtime mayor Edmond Hervé (since 1977) did not lead the PS list in this election, he was replaced by Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande mayor Daniel Delaveau, who was easily elected. The MoDem candidate, with her 10%, also won a place in the runoff.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Toulouse
Jean-Luc Moudenc of the UMP faced a very tough race against the left, which swept the city in the Presidential and Legislative elections held in 2007. Contrary to polls, Moudenc came out on top of the first round with 42% to the PS's 39%. Following the first round, he merged his lists with the MoDem. However, he lost to Pierre Cohen, the PS candidate.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Lille
Socialist incumbent Martine Aubry ran for re-election, with 6 candidates opposing her. The Greens, although they qualified for the runoff, preferred to merge with Aubry's PS lists, as did the MoDem, which chose to merge with the Left list in Lille, and for the Right one in other cities.


2008 French municipal elections, Important races, Strasbourg
The capital of Alsace, Strasbourg was gained by the right from the left in 2001. However, in 2008, the UMP incumbent Fabienne Keller could be potentially defeated by the PS's Roland Ries. A poll showed her defeated 53–47 in the runoff.


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
For the first time ever, the three main parties (center-right UMP, centrist MoDem, and center-left PS) put on top of a 50-odd lists candidates with a non-European ethnic background ("candidats de la diversité"), most either from North Africa, a few from the French Caribbean departments or sub-Saharan Africa, most against incumbent mayors from the opposite party, thus with lower chances to succeed.


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
There were only seven incumbent mayors in Metropolitan France with non-European roots, all in rural communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants where the percentage of foreign stock population is close to nil:


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
The six who were again candidates in their commune were reelected in the first round with results varying from 60% to 88% of the votes, and Auguste Senghor, candidate in another commune far away from the previous one, was the only candidate elected there in the first round with 52% of the votes.


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
Two more small municipal councils elected mayors with non-European roots: Volvic (Puy-de-Dôme, 4,202 inhabitants) elected the Harki activist Mohand Hamoumou (miscellaneous right) and Morey (Saône-et-Loire, 184 inhabitants), Kader Atteye, whose parents came from Djibouti, but 5 councillors out of 11 resigned in protest over the election of a black mayor


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
Only one candidat de la diversité heading a list in a town of more than 10,000 inhabitants was elected in the first round: Eddie Aït, already a regional councillor and departmental leader for the Left Radical Party (centre-left) beat the incumbent UMP mayor of Carrières-sous-Poissy (Yvelines, 13,472 inhabitants) with 62.4% of the votes and was elected as mayor. Another was elected mayor after the second round, Philippe N'Guyen Tahnn (PS) in Vernon (Eure, 23,700 inhabitants)


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
The left-wing list headed by Samia Ghali (PS vice-president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional council) won in the first round in the VIIIth secteur (borough) of Marseilles (92,100 inhabitants) with 52.30%. Had the left won in Marseilles, she had been promised the first adjunct-mayorship, finally she was elected mayor of this secteur, succeeding the incumbent Communist mayor.


2008 French municipal elections, Ethnic pluralism
The UMP list headed by Justice minister Rachida Dati got 49.50% in the first round in the 7th arrondissement of Paris (55,700 inhabitants). She was elected maire d'arrondissement after the second round.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team
The 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team represented California State University, Fresno in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2008. They played their home games at Beiden Field in Fresno, California. The team was coached by Mike Batesole who was in his fifth season at Fresno State. Under Batesole, Fresno State has won three Western Athletic Conference Championships in a row, and he has a 172-134 record with the Bulldogs.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team
In a Cinderella run through the postseason, the Fresno State Bulldogs defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2008 College World Series finals to win its first NCAA Division I Championship in baseball. This led to their 3rd national championship in the NCAA organization, adding to their championships in Softball (1998) and Men's Track & Field (1964-Division II).


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team, Schedule and results
Before the season occurred, Fresno State entered the season ranked in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper's Fabulous 40 for the third consecutive season, at #21. Fresno State was also ranked #21 by the preseason magazine Baseball America. Fresno State also was preseason pick of the WAC coaches as the favorite to win the 2008 season; additionally, seven players were selected to the Preseason All-WAC Team, including the preseason Player of the Year Steve Susdorf and Pitcher of the Year Clayton Allison


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team, 2008 Major League Baseball Draft
The following members of the 2008 Fresno State baseball team were drafted in the 2008 MLB Draft.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
The 2008 Fresno State football team (variously "Fresno State" or "the 'Dogs") represented California State University, Fresno in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by 12th-year head coach Pat Hill, who had a contract lasting through the 2010 season. This season was the Bulldogs' 28th in their current home of Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team, Preseason
The Bulldogs has enjoyed success as one of the most highly regarded BCS non-AQ conference schools in the country in the previous decade. The 2007 team finished with 9 wins, 4 losses, including a victory in the 2007 Humanitarian Bowl. The annual spring game for the 2008 season took place on April 18, and the Bulldogs concluded spring drills on April 21.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team, Preseason
Going into the summer, the Bulldogs already began to draw attention to their team in the post-spring preseason polls released by sports pundits, drawn to the large number of returning starters, along with the impressive finish, beating the Georgia Tech in the 2007 Humanitarian Bowl to finish the season with a record of 9-4. Athlon has released their preseason 25 poll with the Bulldogs listed ranked #25; Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline has ranked the team at #24; and Mark Schlabach of ESPN placed the Bulldogs in the #21 spot.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team, Preseason
At the end of the 2007 season, former offensive coordinator Jim McElwain resigned to accept the coaching position of offensive coordinator at Alabama, replacing former Texas Longhorn Major Applewhite. On February 28, 2008, Fresno State announced the hire of Doug Nussmeier as the Offensive Coordinator at Fresno State.


2008 Fresno State Bulldogs football team, Game summaries, at UCLA
1-6 all time. Last meeting in 2003. (17-9 in San Jose in the Silicon Valley Bowl)A Derrick Coleman fumble in the redzone in the fourth quarter took away the Bruins' hope of keeping the Bulldogs from winning a game in the Rose Bowl stadium. Fresno State won its first game there by five points, taking control of the final 8 minutes and 55 seconds and not allowing a UCLA comeback.


2008 Fresno mayoral election
The 2008 Fresno mayoral election was held on June 3, 2008 and November 4, 2008 to elect the mayor of Fresno, California. It saw the election of Ashley Swearengin.


2008 Friends Provident Trophy
The 2008 Friends Provident Trophy was an English county cricket tournament, held between 20 April and 16 August 2008. The tournament was won by Essex.


2008 Friends Provident Trophy, Format
Unlike in 2007, the 18 English counties, Ireland and Scotland were divided into four groups of five, based on geographical location. Each side played the other four teams home and away, with the top two sides from each group progressing to the quarter-final stage. A spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board, which instigated the changes, explained that the changes "provides  [sic] more local derbies and less travel for players". The recommendations of the Schofield Report; an investigation into England's 5–0 Ashes defeat, were also cited as a cause for the changes.


2008 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election
The Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election of 2008 took place on 13–14 April 2008.


2008 Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election
Former President Renzo Tondo (The People of Freedom) defeated incumbent Riccardo Illy (an independent closed to the Democratic Party).


2008 Fujimi mayoral election
Fujimi, Saitama held a mayoral election on July 13, 2008. Independent candidate Shingo Hoshino won the election, beating incumbent mayor Kiyoshi Urano supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and Masaru Kaneko, supported by the Japanese Communist Party. Polling turnout increased almost 5%, up from record-low 36% in 2004 to just above 41%.


2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series
The 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercars season was the ninth running of the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, the second-tier V8 Supercar series. It began on 21 February at the Clipsal 500 and ended on 7 December at Oran Park Raceway in New South Wales after seven rounds.


2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Race calendar
The series consisted of six events in support to the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series and one stand-alone event.


2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers have competed during the 2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. This was the last season the Ford AU Falcon was eligible.


2008 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Points system
Points are awarded to any driver that completes 75% of race distance and is running on the completion of the final lap. These are the points awarded for each race.


2008 Futsal Mundialito
The 2008 Futsal Mundialito was an international friendly championship in futsal. The tournament was held in Algarve, Portugal from 2 to 6 of July 2008. The championship was played in Praia da Alagoa.


2008 G20 Washington summit
The 2008 G20 Washington Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy took place on November 14–15, 2008, in Washington, D.C., United States. It achieved general agreement amongst the G20 on how to cooperate in key areas so as to strengthen economic growth, deal with the 2008 financial crisis, and lay the foundation for reform to avoid similar crises in the future. The Summit resulted from an initiative by the French and European Union President, Nicolas Sarkozy, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.


2008 G20 Washington summit
In connection with the G7 finance ministers on October 11, 2008, United States President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G20 would be important in finding solutions to the economic crisis. Since many economists and politicians called for a new Bretton Woods system (a monetary management which was instituted after World War II) to overhaul the world's financial structure, the meeting has sometimes been described by the media as Bretton Woods II.


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
Bretton Woods II was an informal designation for the system of currency relations which developed during the 00's . As described by political economist Daniel Drezner, "Under this system, the U.S. is running massive current account deficits to be the source of export-led growth for other countries. To fund this deficit, central banks, particularly those on the Pacific Rim, are buying up dollars and dollar-denominated assets."


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
The notion of a "revived Bretton Woods system" was introduced in a 2004 paper by Dooley, Folkerts-Landau, and Garber, in which it is described as arising after the end of the Cold War, out of the choice of countries,


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
mainly in Asia, [which] chose the same periphery strategy as immediate post-war Europe and Japan, undervaluing the exchange rate, managing sizable foreign exchange interventions, imposing controls, accumulating reserves, and encouraging export-led growth by sending goods to the competitive center countries.


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
In 2005, Roubini and Setser argued that the system is unsustainable:


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
If the US does not take policy steps to reduce its need for external financing before it exhausts the world's central banks willingness to keep adding to their dollar reserves – and if the rest of the world does not take steps to reduce its dependence on an unsustainable expansion in US domestic demand to support its own growth – the risk of a hard landing for the US and global economy will grow.


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Approaches in the early 2000s
The basic outlines of a hard landing are easy to envision: a sharp fall in the value of the US dollar, a rapid increase in US long-term interest rates and a sharp fall in the price of a range of risk assets including equities and housing. The asset price adjustment would lead to a severe slowdown in the US, and the fall in US imports associated with the US slowdown and the dollar's fall would lead to a global severe economic slowdown, if not an outright recession.


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Financial crisis of 2007–
On September 26, 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We must rethink the financial system from scratch, as at Bretton Woods."


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Financial crisis of 2007–
On October 13, 2008, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said world leaders must meet to agree to a new economic system. "We must have a new Bretton Woods, building a new international financial architecture for the years ahead." However, Brown's approach is quite different than the original Bretton Woods system, emphasising the continuation of globalization and free trade as opposed to a return to fixed exchange rates. There have been tensions between Brown and Sarkozy, who argues that the "Anglo-Saxon" model of unrestrained markets has failed.


2008 G20 Washington summit, Preliminary history, Financial crisis of 2007–
Italian Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti has said that Italy will use its 2009 G7 chairmanship to push for a "New Bretton Woods." He has been critical of the U.S.'s response to the global financial crisis of 2008, and has suggested that the dollar may be superseded as the base currency of the Bretton Woods system. On 20 October 2008, Tremonti told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that proposals for a new Bretton Woods had been spread for many years by American political activist Lyndon LaRouche.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit
The formula is "G7 plus". In announcing the summit, US President George Bush said that the summit would bring together members of the G20. The G20 was set up to respond to the financial turmoil of 1997-99 through the development of policies that "promote international financial stability". The G20 comprises countries considered to be systemically important, but omits over 170 governments (192 governments are members of the United Nations).


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit
The first meeting of the G20 leaders on financial markets and the world economy was held in Washington, D.C. on November 14–15, 2008, at the National Building Museum.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit
The participants were: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the European Union (represented by France's President Nicolas Sarkozy as President of the European Council, as well as by José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission), the Netherlands (allowed extraordinary presence), Spain (allowed extraordinary presence), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Forum. Although Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende arrived at Andrews Air Force Base on the evening of November 14, he immediately returned to the Netherlands when notified of the death of his father; the Netherlands was instead represented by State Secretary Jan Kees de Jager.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was not initially invited, but was "so desperate to secure an invitation" to the summit, that he traveled "to Asia to seek the help of President Hu Jintao of China." Zapatero eventually extracted an invitation through "intense lobbying" of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who happened to hold two invitations (the second French invitation was due to the fact that France held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during this period).


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Core participants
The following participants of the Washington summit include the core members of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and the European Union which is represented by its two governing bodies, the European Council and the European Commission, as well as other nations and regional organizations invited to take part.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Suggestions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said "Bretton Woods II" should bring about "genuine, all-encompassing reform of the international financial system". The Council of the European Union sees the meeting as "tak[ing] early decisions on transparency, global standards of regulation, cross-border supervision and crisis management, to avoid conflicts of interest and to create an early warning system, so as to engender confidence among savers and investors in every country."


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Suggestions
In announcing the meeting, the spokesperson for US President George Bush said that "leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis, advance a common understanding of its causes, and, in order to avoid a repetition, agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world's financial sector". UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a mid-October speech, set out several principles.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Suggestions
These include transparency (internationally agreed accounting standards, credit insurance market standards), integrity (credit agencies, executive pay), responsibility (board member competency and expertise), sound banking practice (protecting against speculative bubbles). While addressing the G20 leaders, Chinese President Hu Jintao listed four priorities in reforming the international financial system: stepping up international cooperation in financial regulation; advancing reform of international financial institutions; encouraging regional financial cooperation; and improving the international currency system. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the agreement was "comprehensive, positive and balanced".


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Suggestions
Prior to this summit, Japan's Prime Minister, Taro Aso, had contributed feasible action plan based on the analysis of the surplus of Japan's international balance of payments in spite of her prolonged economic slump to The Wall Street Journal, and also provided his idea includes funding in the meeting. Eventually Japan provided the International Monetary Fund 100 billion U.S. dollar to bolster the fund during the global economic and financial crisis.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Key achievements
The White House reported that the summit had reached what would be the Washington declaration. The five key objectives the leaders agreed upon were:


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Key achievements
A summary of the meeting's other salient points is presented by the White House in the "Fact Sheet" while the full conclusions are given in the Summit Declaration.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Key achievements
Despite the optimism expressed by many of those present, doubts soon began to emerge about the success of the meeting and the chances of achieving all its objectives.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Key achievements
The 2009 G20 management troika (U.K., Brazil, South Korea) is charged with coordinating the task of coming up with the content and method of implementing the 47 short and mid-term objectives by March 2009.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Key achievements
Follow-up Summit meetings were held on April 2, 2009 in London, and in September 2009 in Pittsburgh.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Reactions, From the press
The financial press generally welcomed the results of the summit but the Financial Times drew attention to the need for real global cooperation on the ambitious agenda while The Wall Street Journal questioned whether the "regulatory crackdown on the kind of high-risk lending and investment that has led the world into a financial mess" might not backfire by causing an unwanted credit crunch. Business Week listed a number of difficult fundamental questions finance ministers would now have to resolve by the end of March.


2008 G20 Washington summit, The Summit, Reactions, From the press
These included trade tensions and protectionism, consumer spending, housing prices, a clampdown on lending practices and how to achieve global coordination. The Hindu's Business Line opined that "it is all very well to speak blithely of new Bretton Woods institutions but, when there is no acceptance of a world mediated by Western ideas, the move is doomed ab initio."


2008 G20 Washington summit, Similar efforts
The UN General Assembly set up an Interactive Panel on the Global Financial Crisis which held its first meeting in New York on 30 October 2008, led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz. It covered similar ground as the G20, but involving a broader range of countries, and lobbied for an agreement involving all members of the UN. The panel's work was carried forward by a Commission of Experts on Reform of the International Financial System, also led by Stiglitz.


2008 GCC U-17 Championship
The GCC U-17 Championship was played for the 5th time in 2008.


2008 GCC U-17 Championship
Only 4 nations participated, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Bahrain. The nations used it as preparation for the upcoming AFC Youth Championship.


2008 GCC U-23 Championship
The GCC U-23 Championship was played for the first time in 2008.


2008 GCC U-23 Championship
The championship was held in Saudi Arabia. Only five nations took part, hosts Saudi Arabia and nations Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.


2008 GCC U-23 Championship
Saudi Arabia became the first champions of this age-grouped event.


2008 GMAC Bowl
The 2008 GMAC Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season and was the ninth annual playing of the game. It was played on January 6, 2008, at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, and featured the Bowling Green Falcons against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.


2008 GP Ouest–France
The 2008 GP Ouest-France cycling road race took place on August 25, 2008 in France and was won by Pierrick Fédrigo of Bouygues Télécom.


2008 GP2 Asia Series
The 2008 GP2 Asia Series season was the first GP2 Asia Series season. It started on 25 January and ended on 12 April. Romain Grosjean became the champion, with his team, ART Grand Prix, taking the teams' title despite his team-mate Stephen Jelley scoring no points. During this season, only two men were available to score pole positions - it's Romain Grosjean who scores all poles, except one at Sentul International Circuit which in qualifying was won by Vitaly Petrov.


2008 GP2 Asia Series
Romain Grosjean take four race victories, two in each other (feature and sprint race) in Dubai Autodrome, and two victories in feature races, at Bahrain International Circuit, and in second round of Dubai Autodrome, as Vitaly Petrov won the feature race in Malaysia after started from 17th on the grid. Kamui Kobayashi take two victories: in sprint races, at Round 3 in Sepang, and in Round 4 Sakhir. Sébastien Buemi wins only one time at feature race at Indonesia. Also, Marco Bonanomi and Fairuz Fauzy take one victory in the sprint races. Italian won in final race, as Malaysian wins in Sentul.


2008 GP2 Asia Series, Championship standings
Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.


2008 GP2 Series
The 2008 GP2 Series season was the forty-second season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also fourth season under the GP2 Series moniker. It began on 26 April at Montmeló, Spain and it finished on 14 September at Monza, Italy. This is the first season using a new car design to be used during the following 3 seasons. The series was won by Giorgio Pantano.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
4th GP2 Series season started in Circuit de Catalunya. Pastor Maldonado took first pole position of the season, but he couldn't use the advantage after a very bad start. Alvaro Parente won in his debut race in the series. In the sprint race, Romain Grosjean was heading for victory until late-race safety car. When the safety car went back to the pits, Grosjean straight-lined chicane and lost momentum. He then blocked Kamui Kobayashi, receiving drive through penalty. Kobayashi won the race while Grosjean was left without points.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
At Turkey, Giorgio Pantano won from pole in the feature race. Grosjean won the sprint race which included several accidents on the first lap, as well as two stray dogs on the track. One of them was hit by Bruno Senna whose car was damaged and he had to retire. Luckily Senna escaped without injury. Senna then won at Monaco, on the track where his uncle Ayrton had won six times. In the sprint race, which was held for the first time in Monaco, Mike Conway was victorious. He was heading for third place in feature race before being punted off by Javier Villa on the final lap. He was lucky in the event, as only eight drivers were unlapped, so he ended in eight and therefore for the pole in the sprint.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
Magny-Cours feature race was won by Pantano after Grosjean and Senna suffered mechanical retirements. The sprint race started on damp track and few drivers gambled starting with slicks. This worked well for Arden drivers, as Sébastien Buemi won from 21st on the grid. His teammate Yelmer Buurman was second. At Silverstone Pantano won the feature again, and wet sprint race was dominated by Senna.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
At Hockenheim Grosjean finished first on the road, but he was later penalized for overtaking under yellow flag, giving Pantano third straight feature race victory. Karun Chandhok won the sprint race from pole. At Hungaroring, Lucas di Grassi who had returned to GP2 in Magny-Cours, won the feature race, while Buemi won the sprint after polesitter Andy Soucek made a small mistake.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
The feature race at Valencia ended in dramatic fashion. Pantano was on road for victory before he ran out of fuel on the final lap. Several other drivers suffered same fate, including Senna who could get his car over the finish line but in 9th place. Vitaly Petrov inherited the win. Pantano recovered well in sprint race to take third place while Senna crashed out. di Grassi was the winner.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
With four races to go, Pantano led by 13 points on Senna and 20 on di Grassi. Senna took the pole in Spa, but his race was destroyed by drive through penalty for unsafe release by the team in his pit stop. Pantano suffered mechanical glitch during safety car and was dropped to back of the field. He was recovering until he collided with di Grassi on the final lap. Pantano was disqualified for the race and also excluded from the sprint. Grosjean won the feature while Maldonado took his first victory of the season in the sprint, overtaking Jérôme d'Ambrosio on the final lap.


2008 GP2 Series, Season summary
Pantano got perfect start for final weekend with pole, therefore knocking di Grassi out from the championship hunt. A race started in wet conditions and mandatory pit stop was done as late as possible, as the track was ready for slicks. di Grassi won while Pantano ended in 10th after drive through penalty for crossing white line at the pit exit. It didn't matter much: while Senna couldn't finish better than 5th, Pantano clinched the title with one race to go. The sprint race was held in wet conditions as well and won by polesitter Davide Valsecchi.


2008 GP2 Series, Teams and drivers
On 19 October 2007, it was announced that the same 13 teams which took part in 2007 would continue into 2008.


2008 GP2 Series, Schedule and results
The original calendar was released on 25 March 2008 and had a standalone event on the 31 May – 1 June at the Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit. However, on the 18 April 2008, it was confirmed that a deal had been agreed for a GP2 event to run alongside the new European GP at the Valencia Street Circuit instead of the original date at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.


2008 GP2 Series, Schedule and results
Also, for the first time in the history of GP2, two races were held at Monaco.


2008 GP2 Series, Schedule and results
All of the races supported the Formula One Grands Prix indicated by the relevant flags, except the round at Valencia which supported the 2008 European Grand Prix.


2008 Gabonese local elections
Local elections were held in Gabon on April 27–30, 2008, with 1,990 municipal and departmental councillors being elected.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
Prior to the election, a victory for the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) was expected. There were a total of about 850 lists presented in the elections, and campaigning ended at midnight on April 26. Results given by the Interior Minister, André Mba Obame, on May 3 showed the PDG winning 1,154 seats, while the opposition Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development (UGDD) won 161 seats. The Union of the Gabonese People (UPG) won about 90 seats, while many seats were won by independents.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
According to Mba Obame, the PDG majority confirmed the voters' "commitment to the implementation of the political project" of President Omar Bongo. The results still had to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Court. The councillors were to elect mayors within eight days of the formal proclamation of results.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
Obame placed voter turnout at between 65% and 70%. Although reported high in most of the country, it was said to be low in Libreville, the capital, where it was estimated at about 17%.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
There were 119 constituencies in the election, and the PDG was the only party to present candidate lists in all of them. In Libreville, the PDG won a plurality of seats but failed to win a majority, taking 42 of the 98 seats and winning in three of the six arrondissements. The PDG's best result in Libreville was obtained in the fifth arrondissement, where its list was headed by former Prime Minister Jean-Francois Ntoutoume Emane and it obtained 12 out of 16 seats. In the country's second city, Port-Gentil, the PDG won only 15 out the 63 seats, while the independent list of Mayor Séraphin Ndaot Rembogo won 28.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
Following Obame's announcement of results, the Rally for Gabon (RPG), which is part of the presidential majority, held a protest against the results, alleging that various means were used to skew the vote in favor of the PDG. It demanded that the vote in Libreville be cancelled and that the electoral system be reformed.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
The President of the Constitutional Court, Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo, announced final results on May 7, confirming the PDG's victory, with its numbers largely unchanged from those given by Mba Obame a few days earlier. Emile Moussavou Moundziegou, a PDG deputy who was accused of destroying a ballot box, was penalized by being barred from office for five years. Additionally, the Court ordered an investigation of violence that occurred in Lemboumbi-Leyou Department in the south-east and in the commune of Mitzic in the north, noting that any elected candidates who were involved in this violence would also lose their mandates.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
On May 8, the government set the election for mayors of municipalities and for the presidents and vice-presidents of departmental councils for May 20; the election for mayors of arrondissements was to be held on May 25.


2008 Gabonese local elections, Overview
The election for mayors of municipalities and for the presidents of departmental councils was held on May 23, and Ntoutoume Emane was elected unopposed as Mayor of Libreville. He received 84 votes; the remaining 14 votes were invalid. Four deputy mayors were also elected: Michel Teale of the PDG, Christian Odou Mba of the Rally of the Gabonese People (RPG), Eloi Ndzondo of the Circle of Liberal Reformers (CLR), and Léandre Zué of the PDG.


2008 Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300
The 2008 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 was the opening round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season and took place on March 29, 2008 at the 1.485-mile (2.390 km) Homestead-Miami Speedway. For the first time in series history, the reigning champion was not on the grid to defend his title, as Dario Franchitti had moved to the No. 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for Chip Ganassi Racing. Graham Rahal was supposed to make his debut in this race however due to a crash in testing his team could not get his car repaired in time for the race. 2003 champion Scott Dixon kicked off the season with the victory, on his way to the series championship.


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters
The 2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters was a tennis tournament held at the Hotel Sultan in Jakarta from 10 December to 14 December 2008. It was the inaugural Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters.


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters
The tournament was restricted to Indonesian entrants. The total prize purse was 500 million rupiah (roughly $40,000US), with 100 million rupiah for the winners of the singles competition.


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters
The singles competitions each had eight entrants. The men's doubles competition had eight teams, and the women's doubles competition had four teams.


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters
The Indonesian Tennis Association (PELTI) used the Masters to rank Indonesian players, for Fed Cup and Davis Cup selection.


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters, Results, Men's Doubles
Christopher Rungkat/Andrian Raturandang defeated Nesa Arta/Hendri Susilo Pramono 6-4 7-5


2008 Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters, Results, Women's Doubles
Ayu-Fani Damayanti/Liza Andriyani defeated Grace Sari Ysidora/Septi Mende 6-1 6-4


2008 Gastein Ladies
The 2008 Gastein Ladies was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 2nd edition of the Gastein Ladies, and was part of the Tier III Series of the 2008 WTA Tour. It took place in Bad Gastein, Austria, from July 14 through July 20, 2008. Fourth-seeded Pauline Parmentier won the singles title.


2008 Gastein Ladies, Finals, Doubles
Andrea Hlaváčková /  Lucie Hradecká defeated  Sesil Karatantcheva /  Nataša Zorić 6–3, 6–3


2008 Gastein Ladies – Doubles
While Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová were the defending champions, Voráčová chose not to participate, and only Hradecká competed that year. Hradecká partnered with Andrea Hlaváčková, and won in the final 6–3, 6–3, against Sesil Karatantcheva and Nataša Zorić.


2008 Gastein Ladies – Singles
Francesca Schiavone was the defending champion, but chose not to participate that year.


2008 Gastein Ladies – Singles
Pauline Parmentier won in the final 6–4, 6–4, against Lucie Hradecká.


2008 Gator Bowl
The 2008 Gator Bowl was played on January 1, 2008, as part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It featured the Red Raiders of Texas Tech University, who finished third in the Big 12 Conference's South Division, and the Cavaliers of the University of Virginia, who finished second in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division. Texas Tech won the game on a last-second field goal, securing a 31–28 victory.


2008 Gator Bowl
It was one of 32 games in the 2007–08 bowl season. The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It is one of the oldest college bowls, held continuously since 1946. This edition's full name was the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl after its sponsor, Konica Minolta.


2008 Gator Bowl, Overview
The Gator Bowl has tie-ins from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, and Big East Conferences, as well as independent Notre Dame. They have the right to the third pick of a team from the ACC, and have the option to offer the other spot to the second pick from the Big East, the fourth pick from the Big 12, or Notre Dame.


2008 Gator Bowl, Overview
The 2008 game featured the ACC's Virginia Cavaliers, who finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 9–3 (6–2 in the ACC) playing the Big 12's Texas Tech Red Raiders, who finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 8–4 (4–4 in the Big 12). The game was the eighth straight post season appearance for the Red Raiders. Virginia returned to a bowl game after failing to qualify for one following the 2006 season.


2008 Gator Bowl, Recap
After Texas Tech jumped out to an early 7–0 lead, scoring on their second drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Detron Lewis, Virginia reeled off 21 straight points, including two safeties where Harrell was called for intentional grounding in the endzone. Virginia tailback Mikell Simpson scored on a 96-yard run, an NCAA bowl record for a running back.


2008 Gator Bowl, Recap
Virginia carried a 21–7 lead into the locker room at halftime and seemed to be in control after Simpson hauled in an 11-yard pass from quarterback Peter Lalich with 11:26 left in the game to make the score 28–14.


2008 Gator Bowl, Recap
With 7:54 left in the game, Texas Tech turned the ball over on downs just outside Virginia's goal line. The Cavaliers were unable to pick up a first down and, following a punt, the Red Raiders took over at midfield trailing by 14 with 5:32 left. Harrell engineered an efficient drive completing five of his eight passes on the drive, including a 20-yard fade to Michael Crabtree for a touchdown to make it 28–21 with 3:31 left on the clock.


2008 Gator Bowl, Recap
On Virginia's ensuing drive, Lalich was sacked and fumbled the football, setting up a one-play drive for Texas Tech – a four-yard touchdown run for Aaron Crawford.


2008 Gator Bowl, Recap
Virginia was again unable to pick up a first down and Texas Tech drove to the UVA 24 yard line and Alex Trlica kicked the winning 41-yard field goal with two seconds left. The final score was Texas Tech 31, Virginia 28.


2008 Gatorade Duels
The 2008 Gatorade Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 14, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Both, contested over 60 laps, were the qualifying races for the 2008 Daytona 500. The first race was won by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for the Hendrick Motorsports racing team. Reed Sorenson finished second, and Ryan Newman clinched third. Afterward, the second race was won by Denny Hamlin. Tony Stewart followed in the second position, ahead of third placed Jeff Gordon.


2008 Gatorade Duels
The races set the field for the 50th running of "The Great American Race". These races are the only ones in the NASCAR Sprint Cup that qualifies drivers and their teams for a points-paying race. As qualifying only sets the front row for the Daytona 500, these races are formatted as follows:


2008 Gatorade Duels
Positions three through 39 were filled that way (not counting the pole drivers in each race) along with the top drivers in each race not locked in from the previous season's Top 35, automatically qualify for the race. After that, the three fastest cars that did not qualify in the races along with a past champions provisional (if needed) completes the 43-car field. Had all past champions made the race, the next fastest car would have been entered into the field.


2008 Gatorade Duels, Top Ten Finishers, Race 1 and 2
(NOTE: Race 2 extended to 64 laps due to green-white-checker finish.)