Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Nadal powers into 4th round
Right from the getgo in Court Philippe Chatrier, things were not looking good for Rafael Nadal’s latest French Open foil: The 10-time champion at Roland Garros won the first 12 points against Richard Gasquet.
“I started badly,” Gasquet said.
Well, that’s one possible explanation. Another is much simpler. To wit: He was facing the mighty Nadal — winner of all 16 matches this pair has played against each other as pros — and on red clay, to boot. Nadal eventually lost points, of course, but never relented in a meaningful way en route to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 third-round victory that was only his latest declaration of dominance at this Grand Slam tourney.
“Once he’s ahead,” Gasquet lamented, “it becomes impossible.”
Consider the streaks the No. 1-ranked Nadal has amassed. He has won 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros; the last loss was against Novak Djokovic in 2015.
He has won 34 completed sets in a row, too, which eclipsed his own previous best of 32 and now stands second in French Open history to Bjorn Borg’s 41 from 1979-81.
He is 82-2 for his career at Roland Garros, 107-2 in bestof-five-set clay-court matches anywhere.
“It’s no surprise to anyone,” observed Gasquet, who was seeded 27th in Paris but has been ranked as high as No. 7 and made it to three Grand Slam semifinals.
Nadal now meets 70thranked Maximilian Marterer, a 22-year-old German who will be appearing in the fourth round of a major tournament for the first time.