Nadal, Halep in cruise control to reach third round in Paris
Rafa Nadal completed another straightset win to reach the third round of the French Open yesterday, extending his Roland Garros record to 81-2.
Nadal is once again the big favourite on his favourite surface following a tremendous clay-court season, and the 10-time champion lived up to the status by easily dispatching Guido Pella, of Argentina, 6-2 6-1 6-1.
Nadal hasn’t lost a set at the French Open since 2015, when he was beaten in the quarterfinals by Novak Djokovic. In 2016, he withdrew with an injured left wrist after a pair of easy victories, then claimed every set he played last year en route to the trophy.
Against Pella, the top-ranked Spaniard saved all four break points he faced and hit 37 winners. He will be up against Richard Gasquet, of France, in the next round.
Gasquet advanced to this stage for the eighth straight year by defeating Malek Jaziri 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-0.
Gasquet and Nadal are both 31 years old and know each other since their teenage years. Nadal has since become a multiple grand slam winner and the most successful clay-court player ever, while Gasquet did not live up to the huge expectations surrounding him at the start of his professional career.
He has never beaten Nadal in 15 previous meetings.
Among other seeded players advancing were No 3 Marin Cilic, No 6 Kevin Anderson, No 7 Dominic Thiem and No 15 Lucas Pouille.
In women’s play, top-ranked Simona Halep, third-seeded Garbine Muguruza and two-time champion Maria Sharapova all powered into the third round with straight-set victories.
Halep showed no signs of fatigue in beating wildcard entry Taylor Townsend 6-3 6-1, despite playing on consecutive days.
Sharapova improved to 13-0 in secondround French Open matches by beating 50th-ranked Donna Vekic, of Croatia, 7-5 6-4.
And Muguruza impressed with her easy movement around the court in a 6-4 6-3 victory over French wildcard entry Fiona Ferro.
Halep said in her post-match interview that she struggled initially against left-hander Townsend’s shots with topspin. But the score didn’t show it.
Her next opponent, Andrea Petkovic of Germany, beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-0 7-6 (5) to reach the third round.
Sharapova took a bit of time to close out her match. She led 5-2 in the second set, then served for the win at 5-3, but was broken when she sailed an offbalance forehand wide.
She broke right back to end it, though, converting her fifth match point with a forehand return winner.
Sharapova is competing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015.