Rafa’s milestone ‘only a number’
PARIS: A dominant Rafael Nadal arrived at one career milestone yesterday but the speed of the Spaniard’s rampage through the early rounds of the French Open suggests his eyes are fixed firmly on another more significant one.
The world number five, seeded four at the tournament he once owned, destroyed Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 6-3 6-0 6-3 to reach the third round for the loss of only nine games and chalked up a 200th match victory in grand slams.
“That’s only another number, and that’s it,” Nadal, who would become the only man to win the same grand slam 10 times in the professional era if he triumphs this year, said.
“The only thing I know is that I have reached round three and I know I have to play at a very high level in order to go deep. That’s my sole objective, my only reality.”
It was his first appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier, where nine times he has sunk his teeth into La Coupe des Mousquetaires, since being taken apart by Novak Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals.
Tougher tests will come and top seed Djokovic looked in the groove by beating tricky Belgium Steve Darcis 7-5 6-3 6-4 as his quest for the only grand slam title to elude him gathered pace.
The world number one dropped serve twice when he seemed to be strolling towards a straightforward victory, his 50th at Roland Garros.
“It was a bit difficult but I’m happy I won in three sets,” said Djokovic.
Darcis, the world number 161, fought back from a break down in the first and third sets as Djokovic seemed to lose focus. The Serb raced to a 3-0 lead on Court Suzanne Lenglen only for Darcis to break back and level for 3-3 before he wasted a break point in the ninth game.
Djokovic went on to take the set as the Belgian’s backhand sailed long.
An early break put the top seed ahead in the second set, which he won comfortably. However, Djokovic, who hopes to win the only grand slam missing from his collection, let Darcis fight back from 2-0 down in the third.
But the Australian Open champion, a runner-up at Roland Garros last year, accelerated again and wrapped it up on his first match point.
Defending champion Serena Williams barely broke sweat as she brushed aside Brazilian Teliana Pereira 6-2 6-1 in the second roun yesterday.
The American, who has lost five games in two matches, will next take on local favourite Kristina Mladenovic, the 26th seed, or Hungary’s Timea Babos. Williams started confidently, winning the first four games, only for her 81st-ranked opponent to pull one break of serve back.
But the American was in a league of her own and claimed eight of the last nine games, ending a one-sided contest on her second match point.
With Maria Sharapova absent, suspended pending the outcome of a doping hearing, and several leading seeds knocked out in round one, American Williams looms as the overwhelming favourite to claim a fourth title in the French capital.
She might not have it all her own way though and the likes of former champion Ana Ivanovic and Spanish claycourt specialist Carla Suarez Navarro were impressive yesterday.
Ivanovic, seeded 14, crunched 22 forehand winners past Japan’s Kurumi Nara for a 7-5 6-1 victory while 12th seed Suarez Navarro dominated China’s Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3.
Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky also prevailed in a tricky second round against 2014 runner-up Eugenie Bouchard, winning a topsyturvy match 6-4 6-4.
In the men’s draw seventhseeded Czech Tomas Berdych, a former semi-finalist, moved through to the third round by beating Tunisian Malek Jaziri 6-1 2-6 6-2 6-4.
He was joined by Austrian dangerman Dominic Thiem, the youngest member of the top 15, who saw off experienced Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three sets.
One notable second-round faller was Australia’s Bernard Tomic, the 23-year-old 20th seed, who was beaten by rising Croatian force, teenager Borna Coric.
Meanwhile Jo-Wilfried Tsonga provided some thrills on an otherwise dull day when he overturned a two-set deficit to reach the third round by beating Marcos Baghdatis 67(6) 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2.
The French sixth seed got off to a shaky start but backed by the Philippe Chatrier Court’s partisan crowd, played more aggressively to unsettle his Cypriot opponent.
Tsonga, looking to become the first French man to win Roland Garros since Yannick Noah in 1983, next faces Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis. – Reuters