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PARIS: Triple champion Rafael Nadal racked up his
25th win in 25 Roland Garros matches as he joined third seeded Serb
Novak Djokovic on a Sunday stroll into the French Open
quarterfinals.
Nadal, bidding to join Bjorn Borg
as the only four-in-a-row champion, humbled fellow Spaniard Fernando
Verdasco, the 22nd seed, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 and will now face Nicolas
Almagro for a place in the semifinals.
Australian Open champion Djokovic
reached the quarterfinals for the third successive year thanks to a
6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over French 18th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.
He will face childhood friend
Ernests Gulbis of Latvia after the 19-year-old ended the hopes of
another Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to reach his
first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Nadal, who turns 22 on Tuesday,
has never been beaten at Roland Garros and Verdasco, who had lost
all of the pair’s five career meetings, never looked capable of
breaking his Davis Cup teammate’s perfect record.
He was broken three times in the
first set and had to wait until the sixth game of the second before
he managed to carve out a break point which Nadal comfortably saved.
“It’s always good to win a
match and only lose three games,” said Nadal who consulted the
doctor after a rain interruption because of a bout of dizziness.
He insisted it wasn’t a serious
problem ahead of his match with Almagro who boasts the most wins on
clay (24) on tour this season.
“He is one of the toughest
opponents on clay. He won in Brazil and in Acapulco and was
runner-up in Valencia. This will probably be my toughest match this
week.”
Djokovic praised his big serve
which helped him save seven of the eight break points he saved
against Mathieu.
Djokovic, who is steadily closing
in on Nadal’s No. 2 ranking, broke Mathieu in the fifth game of
the first set and then survived three break points in the 10th game
to take the opener.
The world’s No. 3 was ahead
with a break at 3-2 but Mathieu, encouraged by a 15,000 crowd, hit
back only to surrender the advantage immediately to trail 4-3.
Mathieu, coached by former triple
champion Mats Wilander, squandered four more break points in the
eighth game and was broken again in the ninth to hand Djokovic a
two-set lead.
The Serb wrapped up victory when
Mathieu buried another running forehand into the net in the 10th
game of the third set.
Gulbis, who trained with Djokovic
when they were youngsters at the Munich academy owned by former
Germany and Croatia Davis Cup captain Niki Pilic, had lost both his
previous matches to Llodra, his senior by nine years.
Almagro’s 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (9-7),
7-5 win over French world’s No. Jeremy Chardy allowed him to reach
his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
On Monday, top seed Roger Federer,
beaten in the last two finals by Nadal, attempts to reach the last
eight when he takes on France’s Julien Benneteau.
--AFP
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