Murray stretched, Nishikori strolls through
ROUND TWO World No 1 wins foursetter against Slovakia’s Klizan, to face Argentine Del Potro; Asian rival for Japanese
PARIS: World number one Andy Murray reached the French Open third round on Thursday with a bruising 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) win over Martin Klizan of Slovakia.
Murray will face Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro for a place in the last 16.
“I expected a tough match. Martin goes for his shots, he can hit winners with that forehand from anywhere on the court,” said 2016 runner-up Murray.
“I tried to play a solid match, I hit deeper the longer the match went on and tried to dictate the points.”
Murray faced Del Potro in two epic encounters last year.
He beat the Argentine in a marathon Olympic final before Del Potro, now 30 in the world, gained his revenge with a come-from-behind win in five sets in the Davis Cup semi-final.
“It will be very tough. Juan Martin is playing a lot better than his ranking,” said Murray.
Klizan smashed 57 winners on Thursday but 64 unforced errors as his all-or-nothing game proved in vain.
Juan Martin del Potro, no stranger to injury after a careerlong battle with wrist problems, made the third round after Spanish opponent Nicolas Almagro quit in tears during the third set of their tie with a left knee injury.
Del Potro, 28, had taken the first set of the second round clash 6-3 before Almagro claimed the next by the same score. They were locked at 1-1 in the third when Almagro quit.
Del Potro, playing Paris for the first time in five years after battling a series of wrist injuries, also suffered an injury scare himself when he pulled up, holding his left leg in the second set.
World number three Stan Wawrinka came out on top with Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, winning 6-4 7-6(5) 7-5 to set up a third round showdown with Italian maverick Fabio Fognini.
ALL-ASIA TUSSLE
Japanese eighth seed Kei Nishikori routed France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5). The world number nine will face South Korean Hyeon Chung for a place in the last 16.
Former US Open champion Marin Cilic, the seventh seed, made the third round for the seventh time thanks to a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over 32-year-old Konstantin Kravchuk, the Russian world number 129 making his Paris debut.
“How far I can go? I don’t know. It’s not up to me only. I’m very satisfied with the way I’m playing,” said Cilic. Unseeded 21-year-old Karen Khachanov of Russia continued his impressive debut, beating Czech 13th seed Tomas Berdych, a semi-finalist seven years ago, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
Big-serving John Isner of the United States fired 21 aces to defeat Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2).
Isner and Lorenzi were two of the 30 men in the second round aged over 30 -- an Open era record at any Slam. Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova and thirdseeded Simona Halep of Romania, both firm women’s title favourites after the first round exit of world number one Angelique Kerber, look for places in the last 32. The 25-year-old Czech faces Russian world 86 Ekaterian Alexandrova who has never beaten a top five rival. Halep, the 2014 runner-up, said she was “50-50” at the weekend due to an ankle ligament injury picked up in Rome.
BOPANNA ADVANCES
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski outclassed the Australian pair of Jessica Moore and Matt Reid 6-0, 6-1 in straight sets. The Indo-Canadian combo sent down as many as five aces and converted five break points out of the seven chances that came their way to finish off the match.