French Open: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer cruise through as Monfils, Barty crash

NO one stopped Rafael Nadal from beating Richard Gasquet 17 times in a row.
While Vitas Gerulaitis was talking about Jimmy Connors after finally beating the American on his 17th attempt, Gasquet was not able to do the same thing against Nadal as the 13-time champion marched into the third round at Roland-Garros on Thursday.

On his 35th birthday, in his first experience of the night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Nadal’s 6-0, 7-5, 6-2 victory over his old friend sent him through to a last-32 meeting with Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

When Gasquet first played Nadal as a teenager, he came off court and said that Nadal would go on to win Roland-Garros one day, so talented was the young Spaniard.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic made sure his 350th Grand Slam match of his career was a victory as he breezed past Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in second-round action on Thursday.

The Serb is through to the third round in Paris for a 16th year in a row and is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era to win each of the four Grand Slams at least twice this fortnight on the terre battue.

Djokovic will next face Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who ousted Australian James Duckworth, for a last-16 berth.

Swiss 2009 champion Roger Federer blasted 47 winners, including 16 aces, in his hard-fought 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over familiar foe Marin Cilic to reach the third round.
The 20-time major winner, competing at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2020 Australian Open, was tested during the two-hour 35-minute showdown.

Federer, the No.8 seed, will face German lefty Dominik Koepfer next.
Home favourite and No.14 seed Gael Monfils was upset by Swedish world No.105 Mikael Ymer 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in second-round action at Roland-Garros on Thursday.

Monfils, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2008, has been searching for his form since the tour restarted from it’s five-month hiatus last August and entered Thursday’s match with just two wins under his belt this season.

The 22-year-old Ymer is into the third round for a second consecutive major and next faces Italian teenager Jannik Sinner.

Women’s world No.1 and 2019 Roland-Garros champion Ashleigh Barty was forced to retire during her second round against Magda Linette on Thursday, citing a hip injury that has been bothering her since the start of the tournament.

Barty took an off-court medical time-out late in the first set but it wasn’t enough to allow her to complete the match. The Australian pulled the plug while trailing Linette 1-6, 2-2.
Linette, the Polish world No.45, is through to the third round in Paris for the first time since 2017.

Last year’s finalist Sofia Kenin advanced to the Roland-Garros third round for a third year in a row as she overcame fellow American Hailey Baptiste 7-5, 6-3.

The No.4 seed, who faces another compatriot in the next round in the form of the ever-dangerous Jessica Pegula, won 71 per cent of the points behind her first serve and broke Baptiste five times in the 81-minute clash.

Another American Roland-Garros finalist, Sloane Stephens, was impressive on Thursday as she sent Czech ninth seed Karolina Pliskova packing 7-5, 6-1 in 91 minutes.

Stephens, who fell to Simona Halep in the Paris final in 2018, is into the third round for the eighth time in 10 appearances and next faces 18th-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova.

The 28-year-old Stephens had a slow start to her year, and had just nine victories to her name in 2021 coming into Roland-Garros, but is enjoying a revival on the clay and will be a serious threat moving forward.