World number three Stan Wawrinka cruised into the French Open fourth round after beating an out-of-sorts Fabio Fognini 7-6(2), 6-0, 6-2
paris — Andy Murray benefited from a double-fault by Juan Martin del Potro in the opening tiebreaker and then looked more and more like the No. 1 player that he is during a 7-6 (8), 7-5, 6-0 victory at the French Open on Saturday.
The third-round match between a pair of past major champions was much tighter than the straight-set scoreline might indicate.
“Yeah, I expected a very tough match. And the first set was very, very important, I think, for the rest of the match. Whoever had won that first set had big momentum,” Murray said. “In these conditions, when it’s slow and heavy, to be coming back is difficult.”
He needed nearly 3 hours to get past the 29th-seeded del Potro at Court Philippe Chatrier under a cloud-filled sky. It was a rematch of the 2016 Rio Olympics gold-medal final won by Murray.
Del Potro had four set points in the opening set but lost each one, including that key double-fault while ahead 7-6 in the tiebreaker. After Murray converted a third set point of his own when his opponent’s big forehand landed barely wide, del Potro rested his head on the net and stayed put for several seconds, the very picture of disappointment. “Too much frustration,” del Potro said. “I couldn’t believe I lost that set.”
Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, was a 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-2 winner against 28th-seeded Fabio Fognini.
Wawrinka, owner of three major championships in all, will play for a quarterfinal berth against No. 15 Gael Monfils or No. 24 Richard Gasquet, a pair of Frenchmen whose third-round match was interrupted by rain in the first set Saturday.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam title winner and was the runner-up at Roland Garros a year ago. He has not had a great season so far, though, particularly on the clay-court circuit leading up to the French Open, but he now has reached the fourth round for the eighth time in 10 appearances in Paris.
“I’m starting to feel better. I was really looking forward to the French Open,” Murray said. “I had struggled the last six or seven weeks coming in.”
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, was playing at his first French Open since 2012 because of a series of operations on his left wrist. Under constant pressure from an aggressive foe, del Potro had some trouble from Murray’s drop shots and wound up making far more unforced errors, 43-28. —