There is one man to beat: Rafael Nadal
NADAL – ISTOMIN 6-2 6-2 6-0
Very trushy stuff here. It is difficult to say that it was a tennis lesson, but it was definately an incredible display of power from the King of Clay. It was quite a pity seeing Istomin completely humiliated on the centre court, but that’s tennis and also he didn’t try to do anything special to change his fate. It is incredible that some tennis players still try to play Nadal without adding variations. The Spaniard is too strong on the baseline on the clay court for everybody (but Nole?). The match ended after 110 minutes with Nadal winning 83 points vs Istomin’s 43
Rafa will play qualifier Scwhank in the next round. Good luck to the Argentine!
MATTHIEU – ISNER 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-4 3-6 18-16
Guess what? We had another marathon! Isner was a big hope for the American tennis back to the start of the year when he had impressing matches and wins (the most important was with Roger Federer in Basel – see here). Unfortunately big Johny is not keeping up with the expectations.
This time he lost to Matthieu in 5 painful sets in 5 hours and 41 minutes. The match was the second longest in the Roland Garros history.
“I just didn’t get it done. I felt like I got caught in patterns that weren’t ideal for me,” said Isner. “I wasn’t going for my shots at certain points in the match, and that comes from a little bit of a lack of confidence.”
This is now the first time since 2007 that there are no Americans in the 3rd round at the Roland Garros.
MURRAY – NIEMINEM 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2
That was a scare! Murray is still struggling a lot with his back and this time he was also very close to retiring. The Scott had a very poor start due to his problems. His serve was amazingly slow and he couldn’t rely on his usual defensive tennis. When he was 1-4 down in the first set he called for the training and he seriously considered to retire.
After a horrible first set, the Scott found a bit of tennis to turn around the match and win the other 3 sets without much effort.
“Just kind of gritting my teeth,” Murray said, “and trying to find a way of turning the match around, because I was a few points, probably, from stopping.
“I have no idea what will happen in two days,”added the Scott”But if it’s something like a spasm, it’s not like you’re doing major damage. You know, it’s just a really, really tight muscle.”
As Andy said, the Nieminem lost an immense opportunity to take the match. “It was his fault for letting me back into the match, because I didn’t do anything special,” Murray commented. “I just tried to put some balls back in.”
The overall impression? It’s game over for Andy at this Roland Garros.
OTHER RESULTS
Tsonga – Stebe 6-2 4-6 6-2 6-1
Gasquet – Dimitrov 5-7 7-5 6-2 6-3
Goffin – Clement 3-6 7-6 (2) 0-6 6-2 6-1
Ferrer – Paire 6-3 6-3 6-2
Benneteau – Tursunov 6-4 6-4 6-4
Tipsarevic – Chardy 7-6 (1) 6-1 7-5
Almagro – Baghdatis 6-4 6-3 7-5
Raonic – Levine 6-4 7-5 6-2
Youzhny – Haase 6-3 7-6 (5) 6-4
Fognini – Troicki 6-2 3-6 4-6 6-3 8-6
Haas – Stakhovsky 6-2 6-3 6-2
Monaco – Rosol 7-6(4) 6-0 7-6(5)
Giralo – Tomic 6-4 6-1 6-3
Leonardo Mayer – Kohlschreiber 7-6 (5) 7-6 (4) 7-5
Schwank – Florian Mayer 2-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(4)
