U.Va. great Collins stuns Muguruza
PARIS — Surprising results and “Who is that?” stories abound as this oneof-these-is-not-like-theothers French Open heads to the fourth round — with the wild-card entry, the pair of qualifiers and the group of men and women who keep advancing in their tournament debuts.
And then there are the known quantities still around, led by No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic, who reached the round of 16 for the 11th consecutive year, equaling a record held by his “Big Three” foes, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, a former No. 1 player with two major titles, is one of the known quantities. But feisty former Virginia Cavalier Danielle Collins showed the resilience that won her two NCAA singles titles, outlasting her 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a clash that ended after 11 p.m. Paris time.
Muguruza, the No. 20 seed, led 2-0 in every set and 4-2 in the third, but the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon champ struggled to close the match. In the final game, she doublefaulted twice as Collins broke her serve.
But as for Djokovic, forget the idea of an early upset. He is making every contest uncompetitive, yet again ceding merely five games — as he has each time so far on this trip to Roland Garros — in a 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 victory Saturday over 153rdranked Daniel Elahi Galan.
“If you impose yourself from the very beginning on
the court, which I have in those first three matches here,” said Djokovic, who is 34-1 in 2020 as he bids for a second French Open championship and 18th Grand Slam title in all, “then it makes it hard for them to really believe that they can come back.”
Galan confirmed it.
“Of course he’s superior (to) me, but you also feel like you have to make everything perfect or you will lose zero, zero and zero,” Galan said.
Djokovic was concerned, truly, by just one matter: the rain. As he said to chair umpire Jaume Campistol, “What is the reason for not closing the roof if we have it?”
Seems reasonable. Didn’t seem to affect Djokovic’s play, though.
The drop-shot-and-lob combinations were working well. The reflex returns of 125 mph (200 kph) would
be aces were impeccable. And those forehands?
“It was like a rocket,” said Galan. “I was not able to even react.”
No. 2-seeded Nadal, the 12-time champion in Paris, and No. 3 Dominic Thiem, the runner-up to him the last two years, both play in the fourth round today against 20-year-old opponents who are ranked outside the top 200. Nadal faces Sebastian Korda, an American who went through qualifying, while Thiem meets Hugo Gaston, the Frenchman who got in via a wild card.
Those are the sorts of newcomers filling the field this year, prompting various theories for why.
Is it the extra rain and chill and slower courts, courtesy of the SeptemberOctober dates instead of the standard May-June, a switch made because of the coronavirus pandemic? Is it the limited number of folks in the stands — 1,000 allowed daily, instead of more than 30,000 — also on account of COVID-19? Is it the lack of matches for anyone, because of the sport’s five-months-plus hiatus that began in March?
Is it the specific dearth of clay-court preparation? Is it the two-week gap from the end of the U.S. Open to the start of the French Open?
There is something of a prevailing sense among some players that, as expressed by Daniel Altmaier, the 22-year-old German who is ranked 186th and never had participated in a Grand Slam tournament until qualifying for this one, “Literally everyone can beat everyone at the moment.“
As if setting out to prove t h a t , A l t ma i e r h a s n ’t dropped a set through three main-draw matches, including a surprisingly simple 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 humbling of No. 7 seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy to follow a victory over No. 30 JanLennard Struff, a friend and countryman.
Now comes another seeded foe for Altmaier: No. 17 Pablo Carreno Busta. The other fourth-round men’s matches Monday: Djokovic vs. No. 15 Karen Khachanov, No. 5 Stefanos Tsitipas vs. No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, and No. 13 Andrey Rublev vs. Marton Fucsovics.
The women’s matchups established Saturday were: Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin against Fiona Ferro; two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova against Zhang Shuai; Paula Badosa against Laura Siegemund; and No. 30 Ons Jabeur vs. Collins.