Nadal bulldozes Gasquet
WHEN claycourt machine Rafa Nadal faces his old friend Richard Gasquet, the 10-time Roland Garros champion gets a free ride and that was again the case as he bulldozed past the local favourite 6-3 6-2 6-2 to reach the French Open last 16 yesterday.
Top seed Nadal won the first 12 points of the match and opened up a 5-0 led before Gasquet finally got into the contest, but it was once more too little, too late for a player who had been labelled the ‘Mozart of tennis’ in his teenage years.
Gasquet actually won their last encounter, at the Kooyong Classic exhibition event this year.
When it matters Nadal (pictured) must know he won’t get into trouble, having not dropped a set against a player who was his rival in the juniors since 2008.
“I played very well, I’m sorry for Richard, he is a good friend and a good person,” said Nadal.
He has now won 30 sets in a row on the Parisian red dust and his last-16 opponent, 70th ranked 22-year-old German Maximilian Marterer, does not seem equipped to cope with the Mallorcan’s range of weapons.
Gasquet was totally overwhelmed, finding himself trailing 5-0 after 12 minutes, and the Parisian crowd felt it could be an express washout.
In a bid to give the home fans something to shout about, Gasquet spurred himself into action and with a few beautiful shots reduced the gap to 5-3.
But Nadal bagged the first set on serve before putting Gasquet to the sword again at the beginning of the second and third sets, making sure there was no hope of a comeback amongst the Frenchman’s supporters.
Life is never dull when Fabio Fognini takes to the court and the Italian maverick was dipping into his bag of tricks again as he knocked Britain’s Kyle Edmund out in five topsy-turvy sets.
The 18th seed’s play veered from the sublime to the ridiculous during a 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 win. From the moment he dropped serve in the opening game from 40-0 it was clear it was going to be one of those days for the undisputed King of the Unpredictable.
He hit 41 winners and 60 unforced errors and Edmund, a less combustible character, joined in with 27 and 48 of his own.
Maria Sharapova was back on Roland Garros’ main stage for the first time in three years and put on a dazzling display as she demolished Czech sixth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-1 to reach the fourth round.
Absent from the tournament for the last two years after failing a drugs test in 2016, organisers opted not to roll out the red carpet for her comeback as they scheduled her away from the main Philippe Chatrier court for her opening two matches.
But once she returned to the stage where she hoisted the Suzanne Lenglen trophy in 2012 and 2014, the Russian showed she was could still be a destructive force as she left 2017 semi-finalist Pliskova running for the exit after 59 minutes.
Next up will be a meeting with either her long-time nemesis Serena Williams, who has beaten Sharapova in 18 successive encounters dating back to 2005, or Germany’s Julia Goerges.
Sloane Stevens declared she does not look “very presentable” when she is out and about exploring Paris but there was nothing shabby about her determination as she clung on for dear life to reach the fourth round.
Stephens’ chances of reaching the last 16 here for a fifth time looked in jeopardy for much of the third set until she finally overcame Italian Camila Giorgi with a 4-6 6-1 8-6 victory.
The American 10th seed had dropped just six games in her previous two matches and stepped onto a sunbathed Court 18 holding a perfect record against Italian opponents at majors.
But such statistics mattered little to Giorgi and she left Stephens yelling “What the hell’s going on?” after breaking the American to go 6-5 up in the final set.
Giorgi won their last two encounters in straight sets, and it was no different yesterday as she served for the match at 5-4 and again at 6-5.
But Stephens held her nerve to break back on both occasions and was mightily relieved when she saw Giorgi’s backhand zip beyond the baseline on her first match point.
Petra Kvitova’s claycourt hot streak was ended on match number 13 by unsung Estonian Anett Kontaveit. Kvitova had beaten Kontaveit on the way to winning the title in Madrid last month, having also gone undefeated in Prague.
But her luck ran out as the Czech lost 7-6(6) 7-6(4). “I think sometimes you have a good day and sometimes you have a bad day, and for sure it wasn’t a good day today,” Kvitova said.
“I couldn’t really imagine myself playing so well on the clay. So I’m very proud of myself. It was a great clay season. And I’m pretty sad that the clay season is finishing.
“Lot of credit to Anett. She didn’t really give me anything.”
The match had been cancelled the night before by rain but bright sunshine greeted the players on Court One. – Reuters