TENNIS: NOVAK DJOKOVIC is expecting a battle when he takes on Juan Martin Del Potro in the pick of the third-round matches at the French Open tomorrow. The second seed is looking to make it 42 matches unbeaten, 40 of them this year, which would leave him only two behind John McEnroe's record, set in 1984.
Djokovic said: “It’s going to be a great match, a battle. He has always had the quality to be at the top of the men’s game. He plays equally well on any surface, he has a big serve, great groundstrokes. For his height, he moves really well. He’s just overall a top player for me. He’s unfortunately had to take some time off because of the injury but he’s coming back now.”
Djokovic had a helping hand making it win number 41 yesterday when opponent Victor Hanescu retired in the third set of their second-round clash on Court Philippe Chatrier when trailing 6-4, 6-1, 2-3. The Romanian had received treatment to his left thigh throughout the third set and at 30-0 down in the six game decided he could no longer continue.
Djokovic added: “I served really well throughout the whole match so that is something that makes me happy for the upcoming rounds. I think I could have returned a little bit better but he was playing quite well in the first set. After I managed to make that crucial break I took control of the match. Unfortunately for him he had to finish early in the third set.”
Del Potro has climbed back into the world’s top 30 after missing most of last season with a wrist problem but he was a doubt for the French Open with a hip injury. The Argentinian acknowledges he is not yet fully fit but he was impressive yesterday in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Slovakia’s Blaz Kavcic and is hoping to give Djokovic a stern test.
Del Potro said: “It’s a special match. He’s trying to make a record here and to be number one and I want to be ready for the fight. I don’t know if I can win but it will be a beautiful match for me. I’m a great friend of his. On the court, of course, I will want to win, but it will be a really tough match for me.”
The 25th seed insists he is not yet approaching the level Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who he pushed all the way in the semi-finals in 2009. “I’m still far away from them,” he added. “I’m trying to take my road and to reduce the difference. I don’t know how long that will take.”
Federer gave French wild card Maxime Teixeira a grand slam lesson, winning 13 games in a row at one stage on his way to a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 win and a third-round date with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. The third seed said: “I had to keep my focus to start with because you never know what might happen and what he can produce.”
Federer is playing in his 46th consecutive grand slam, while for 22-year-old Teixeira this was a first taste of life in the big time. He said: “I really enjoyed it, even though this is a bit of a tough score.”
Seventh-seed David Ferrer stayed on course for a quarter-final meeting with Federer by defeating Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. It was another impressive showing from the Spaniard, who has been one of the top performers on both clay and hard courts this season. Ferrer’s next opponent will be 31st seed Sergiy Stakhovsky, who edged a tight encounter with Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
France’s three great hopes were all victorious, with Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet triumphing in four sets while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Igor Andreev 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 yesterday evening.
Stanislas Wawrinka, Mikhail Youzhny and Thomaz Bellucci completed a perfect day for the seeds but Frenchman Stephane Robert failed to build on his first-round heroics in dumping out Tomas Berdych, winning only three games against Fabio Fognini.
Roland Garos Results
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Second Round: (8) Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Simona Halep (Rom) 6-0 6-2, Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) bt Edina Gallovits-Hall (Rom) 6-1 6-4, Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt (32) Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 6-4 6-2, (17) Julia Goerges (Ger) bt Lucie Safarova (Cze) 2-6 7-5 6-2, (1) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) 6-3 7-6 (8-6), Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-3 2-6 6-3, (28) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Sara Errani (Ita) 6-1 6-2, Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) bt Alize Cornet (Fra) 6-0 6-2, (13) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Irina Begu (Rom) 6-1 6-1, (14) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt Mona Barthel (Ger) 6-0 7-6 (7-5), Rebecca Marino (Can) bt Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spa) 2-6 6-3 6-3, (10) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 6-3 6-2, (29) Shuai Peng (Chn) bt Polona Hercog (Slo) 7-5 6-1, (11) Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 6-2, (5) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Vesna Dolonts (Rus) 6-1 6-2, (3) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Sabine Lisicki (Ger) 4-6 7-5 7-5.
MEN’S SINGLES: Second round: (3) Roger Federer (Swi) bt Maxime Teixeira (Fra) 6-3 6-0 6-2, (29) Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) bt Pere Riba (Spa) 6-1 6-3 6-0, (31) Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3), (7) David Ferrer (Spa) bt Julien Benneteau (Fra) 6-3 6-4 6-2, (9) Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Guillaume Rufin (Fra) 6-3 1-6 6-1 6-3, Steve Darcis (Bel) bt Philipp Petzschner (Ger) 7-5 6-4 6-4, (25) Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) bt Blaz Kavcic (Slo) 6-3 6-2 6-4, (23) Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-1 6-2 6-4, (13) Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Marcel Granollers-Pujol (Spa) 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4, (2) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Victor Hanescu (Rom) 6-4 6-1 2-3 ret, Albert Montanes (Spa) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spa) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1 6-2, Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Stephane Robert (Fra) 6-2 6-1 6-0, (12) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) 6-3 7-5 6-4, (14) Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) bt Thomas Schoorel (Ned) 6-3 6-2 6-4, (17) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, (30) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) bt Marsel Ilhan (Tur) 6-4 1-6 6-2 4-6 13-11,
