Nadal motors into quarterfinal
FRENCH OPEN Victory equals Roger Federer’s record of reaching the last8 stage at Roland Garros for the 11th time
PARIS: Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal reached a recordequalling 11th French Open quarter-final on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut.
Nadal, who turned 31 on Saturday, equals the mark for Roland Garros last-eight appearances held by Roger Federer who had opted out of the French Open to focus on the Wimbledon.
The 14-time major winner has dropped just 20 games in four rounds so far, just one more than he lost at the same stage in 2012.
The fourth seed will face either Canada’s Milos Raonic or Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta for a place in the semi-finals.
“I’m happy because Roberto is a very good player. It’s very important for me to be in the quarter-finals one more time,” said Nadal.
“Every day is a different story. I am happy what’s happened in these first four matches. I played at a very high level and that is good for my confidence. I will need to be at my very best if I am to have any chance in the next round.”
Austrian sixth seed Dominic Thiem reached the French Open quarter-finals for a second successive year with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.
Thiem will face either defending champion Novak Djokovic or Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas for a place in the semi-finals.
NISHIKORI SURVIVES TWO-SET BLACKOUT
Kei Nishikori survived a two-set blackout to beat Chung Hyeon 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(4), 0-6, 6-4 in their rain-delayed French Open third round tie on Sunday, winning the first ever all-Asian battle at this stage of the tournament.
Japanese eighth seed Nishikori looked to be cruising into the fourth round on Saturday after grabbing the opening two sets against the in-form 21-yearold South Korean, who is ranked 67th in the world.
Chung battled back to force a tiebreak in the third, which he won, and then raced to a 3-0 lead before rain saved the day for Nishikori, who slammed his racket onto the ground in frustration just before the rain interruption.
“I think the rain helped me a lot because I was really down in the fourth set and mentally I wasn’t ready,” Nishikori told reporters.
“I knew I had to change something to beat him today, so I think I made some adjustments to make it a little better than yesterday.”
On a sun-kissed Court One on Sunday, Chung, Asia’s rising tennis star, picked up where he had left off on Saturday to hand Nishikori his first Grand Slam bagel in six years.
The experienced 27-year-old, in his 100th Tour-level claycourt match, recovered his composure in time though, taking more risks and playing the angles to stretch Chung.
He earned a break to go 4-1 up and won the three-hour, 51 minute marathon when Chung double-faulted on matchpoint and conceded.
BOPANNA CRASHES OUT
Rohan Bopanna, partnering Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, crashed out of the men’s doubles event after losing to Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) 6-7 2-6 in a third round match.
The Indian men’s doubles duo of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan also lost their third round match to the pair of Ryan Harrison (USA) and Michael Venus (New Zealand) 6-4, 6-7, 2-6.