Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Nadal shows he is still the master in Paris
PARIS (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal put one of the young pretenders firmly in his place at the French Open when he crushed rising Austrian Dominic Thiem with a masterly display to reach the third round.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a forehand to Dominic Thiem (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier)
The eight-times champion showed flashes of his intimidating best in a 6-2 6-2 6-3 win that was tougher than the scoreline suggested but was never seriously in doubt.
While world No.1 Nadal improved his Roland Garros record to 61-1, prospective semi-final opponent Andy Murray cruised into the third round by outclassing Marinko Matosevic.
Fifth seed David Ferrer, one of three players to beat Nadal on his favoured claycourts this season, also wasted little energy reaching the last 32, demolishing Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2 6-3 6-2.
After the seismic shock of defending champion Serena Williams’s second round exit on Wednesday the women’s draw was relatively incident free on Day Five, with Jelena Jankovic among the seeds to progress.
Perhaps wary of the 20-year-old Thiem’s reputation as a rising force in the men’s game Nadal quickly stamped his authority on Philippe Chatrier Court.
He briefly was in the third set when Thiem, who stunned world number three Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the Madrid Masters this month, broke and held serve to lead 3-1. His booming inside-out forehands briefly put Nadal on the back foot but Nadal quickly responded to the challenge and won the remaining games, ending the contest on his second match point when the Austrian sent a forehand long.
Nadal, who next faces Argentine Leonardo Mayer, is on a quarter-final collision course with last year’s runner-up and compatriot Ferrer.
Seventh seed Andy Murray of Britain, the Wimbledon champion, produced a masterclass to win an entertaining, although one-sided, match 6-3 6-1 6-3 against Matosevic who was playing in the second round of a grand slam for the first time having previously lost 12 first round matches.
Wimbledon champion Murray, who will have a sterner test against Germany’s 28th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in round three, was inevitably quizzed yet again on who would be his next coach following his split with Ivan Lendl.
BLAZING THROUGH
In the absence of the Williams sisters, both beaten on Wednesday, 15th seed Sloane Stephens raised American spirits by easing past Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1 6-3.
David Ferrer (Getty Images)
Stephens followed her teenage compatriot Taylor Townsend, who on Wednesday became the youngest player to go past the second round at Roland Garros since 2009.
The 21-year-old Stephens blazed through the opening set before running into a spot of bother midway through the second as Hercog upped her game but the American ended the contest on her second match point with a crosscourt forehand.
Sixth seed Jankovic was forced to battle hard in the first set by Japan’s Kurumi Nara before the Serbian former world No.1 raced away for a 7-5 6-0.
Russian former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 27th seed, laboured to a 7-6(5) 6-3 win over Italian Camila Giorgi, setting up a meeting with former Wimbledon champion and Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova, a 6-4 6-4 victor over New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.
In the men’s draw, Croatian 16th seed Ivo Karlovic reached the third round with a 7-5 6-3 6-4 win over Andreas Haider-Maurer.
American Donald Young knocked out Spanish 26th seed Feliciano Lopez in straight sets.
He will play Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez next after he followed up nicely on his first-round defeat of third seed and Australian Open champion Wawrinka by beating France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-0.
Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic also backed up a big win.
Having removed women’s third seed Li Na she survived an injury scare to beat American Alison Riske 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3.
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