It’s Rafa’s domination.
NADAL – MONACO 6-2 6-0 6-0
These two guys are dear friends, but Rafa once again didn’t show any mercy with Pico. The match started with Monaco taking a 2-1 lead and then… game over. Rafa won 17 consecutive games to win the match in 1h and 46 minutes (a record given all Nadal’s procedures). Rafa has now an incredible 49-1 record at the Roland Garros and he will play Almagro in the quarters (7-0 record with him). The Spaniard is definately the favourite for the title.
”I feel really comfortable, really at ease,” Nadal said. ”When the tournament is over, I’ll tell you if this was my best Roland Garros or not. For the time being, I’m still playing. So far, so good. But we’ll see. Things could change.”
DEL POTRO – BERDYCH 7-6 1-6 6-3 7-5
The match was suspended for darkness the day before and it resumed when Juan Martin was leading 2-1 sets. Berdych had a very bad start of the 4th set to immediately lose the service. The Czech was clearly out of focus. Then he recovered to play a much better tennis to surrender just in the last game of the set.
“I got up very positive and I restarted the match very focused and broke his serve, then he played better,” Del Potro said. “But in the end, I was really focused on winning the fourth set, and I did it in the last game, playing really well.”
Delpo will play Roger Federer in the quarters. Head to head: Federer leads 11-2. 2-0 on clay where both wins came in 2009 in the semis in Rome (straight sets) and in the semis at the French Open (5 sets).
Federer and Del Potro played already 4 times this year with Federer winning all of them without dropping a set.
TSONGA – WAWRINKA 6-4 7-6 3-6 3-6 6-4
What a drama here! The match stopped for darkness when the scoreline was 4-2 for Tsonga in the 5th set. There was an incredible tension from the very beginning with Wawrinka winning the first 2 games to level the match. Then it was time for the Frenchman to win the other 2 and get to the quarters.
“I have the feeling I spent more energy today in four games than yesterday,” Tsonga commented “But I will be ready tomorrow, ready to throw myself into the battle like a lion.”
Talking about his past matches with Djokovic. “It’s not a good stat. If you look at the last matches, I did not win that much,” said Tsonga, who has lost his last three encounters with Djokovic. I used to beat him because he was not as strong as he is today. He has improved a lot in the past two years, he has matured. He now dictates the points with his forehand more than he used to.”
“I think for him it’s tougher because he needs to win. I got my best result here so from now on everything will be positive,” he said. “Of course, I will be free on the court because I have nothing to lose against this player who is number one in the world. Maybe I’ll play from the baseline but in order to better come inside the court, because it’s important for me to unsettle him,” he added. “To do that, I’ll have to play deep. I’ll have to use my returns. It’s going to be important for me to sometimes play from the back of the court to try and make him leave his lines.”
Head to head 5-5. 1-0 on clay (2 weeks ago in Rome). Tsonga does not beat Djokovic since a 5 stes win in the quarters at the 2012 Australian Open.
MURRAY – GASQUET 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2
Andy had another bad false start to lose the opener 6-1. The crowd was fiercely against him to back their countryman. Finally Gasquet showed once again that he is not mentally fit to play this kind of matches to meltdown and give way to the Scott.
“It was almost like playing a football match — and I like football,” Murray said . “I enjoyed myself on the court today. It’s the most fun I’ve had on the court in a while, so I wasn’t shying away from the fact that the crowd wanted me to lose.”
Murray will play David Ferrer in the quarters. Head to Head: Murray leads 5-4. 3-0 for Ferrer on clay. Expect a 4 or 5 set battle.
