Rafa rolls into 3rd round Serena, Sharapova, Halep all advance on women's side

Rafael Nadal asserted his dominance over second-round opponent Guido Pella of Argentina at the French Open on Thursday, cruising through a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 win on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Pella saved six break points in the opening set but could only hold off Nadal for so long. The top-ranked Spaniard jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set before rallying to claim the final six games of the third set and advance to the third round in Paris.

There, he will face a familiar foe in Richard Gasquet. The 27th-seeded Frenchman defeated Malek Jaziri 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to deny the Tunisian the feat of being the first man from his country to reach the third round at Roland Garros in 55 years.

Nadal has won all 15 of his tour-level matches against Gasquet, his rival during junior tennis.

“I have a great relationship with him always, since we were kids,” Nadal said of Gasquet. “It will be a good match against a good friend in the most important place in my career, and for him a very special place, too.”

“I’ll try to do my best, because unless there is a disaster, as you said, he has a good chance of winning... He’s extraordinary. We all know he is,” Gasquet said of Nadal. “I’m just going to get on the court and try to play a good match... I want to go there and to do my best. It’s a great draw for me. It will be on the center court. There will be [a lot of] people. I intend to have a good match.”

Third-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic was also victorious on the day, though he needed four sets to send Polish qualifier Hubert Hurkacz packing, 6-2, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-5. Cilic committed 48 unforced errors in the match, 38 coming in the final two sets.

“I felt that I just took my foot off the gas and just gave him a little bit more room to breathe,” Cilic said. “I felt like I was constantly close to breaking. I just felt like I was not returning as good as I can and just missed some returns, especially in some critical moments. And then the fourth set he was serving well... there were not many opportunities, but luckily I finished it in a good way.”

Cilic next faces American Steve Johnson, who battled past German Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro cruised past Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 for his 25th victory of the season. Sixth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson picked up the 293rd win of his career in eliminating Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4

Seventh-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem handled Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. American John Isner (No. 9 seed), Jewish Argentine Diego Schwartzman (11), Frenchman Lucas Pouille (15), Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund (16) and Italian Fabio Fognini (18) were among other seeded winners.

Israel-born Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the No. 24 seed, was upset by 70th-ranked German Maximilian Marterer 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-4.

In women’s action, Serena Williams trailed by a set and a break before recalibrating her shots, erasing that deficit and beating 17th-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round.

The 36-year-old American is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament in 16 months – and first since giving birth to a daughter about nine months ago.

Williams has won three of her 23 Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros.

Also, Maria Sharapova huffed and puffed her way into the third round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic.

The former world No. 1, back at Roland Garros after a two-year absence, was erratic throughout but her iron willpower helped her set up a meeting with sixth seed Karolina Pliskova.

Sharapova, who missed the 2016 tournament because of a doping ban and was denied an invitation last year on her return from suspension, will need to be more consistent if she is to beat the Czech, a semifinalist last year.

Meanwhile, Simona Halep’s focus was still not as sharp as she would have liked but that did not prevent the Romanian top seed from blazing past American Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-1 in the second round on Thursday. On TV: French Open action (live on Eurosport and Eurosport2 from noon on Friday and Saturday)