June 4, 2017 by admin

Murray eases past del Potro

PARIS, Top seed Andy Murray eased into the last 16 of the French Open 7-6(8) 7-5 6-0 on Saturday, over a flagging Juan Martin del Potro.
Murray did enough to keep his nose in front throughout, while the giant Argentine was unable to reprise the heroics that saw the pair produce such magic in last year’s Rio Olympics gold medal match. Del Potro, whose career has been blighted by a recurring wrist injury, needed a good start against the world No. 1, but when he lost a tight first set tiebreak, the stage was set.
Losing that opener on a disputed linecall cut del Potro deep. Murray jogged to his seat at the changeover, the Argentine stood at the net, bent at the waist, his head resting on the netcord. There he stayed until the umpire called time.
The pair traded blows in the second set with Murray creeping ahead. But a monumental effort by Del Potro saw him break back for 5-5, only to instantly drop serve again as Murray yanked him around the court with tight angles, drop shots and lobs.
This time the Scot would make no mistake and crunched it out with his fourth ace of the match.
Del Potro’s spirit was broken, and the vocal Paris crowd were quelled.
Steady Stan marches on
World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka cruised into the fourth round against an out-of-sorts Fabio Fognini, winning 7-6(2) 6-0 6-2 as the Italian’s game fell apart after a strong first set.
The 2015 champion has yet to drop a set in the 2017 tournament, but this time he came close to conceding the first, which the unpredictable Italian failed to serve out before losing in a one-sided tiebreak. Fognini, seeded 28, had won two of his three matches against top-five opponents this year.
But on a murky Court Suzanne Lenglen where the weather matched his own darkening mood, the Italian lost the second set without taking a game, punctuating wild forehands with a clutch of double faults before getting treatment on his left knee. At 5-2 down in the third set, Fognini saved two match points before the 32-year-old Swiss fired down an unreturnable serve on the third.
Halep beats Kasatkina
Simona Halep survived a scare against young pretender Daria Kasatkina in a rollercoaster, winning 6-0
7-5 after initially threatening to brush past the 20-year-old Russian with ease.
Kasatkina began tentatively against the Romanian third seed in what looked like a case of big-match nerves.
Hitting powerfully on both wings from the back of the court, Halep romped through the first set in 30 minutes
and led 3-1 in the second. The 20-year-old Russian then sparked into life, winning the next four games and holding three set points in the 10th game before Halep edged through, closing out the match with a net chord that Kasatkina failed to return.
Crafty Cornet flummoxes Radwanska
Using an armoury of delicate drop shots, Alize Cornet rode a tide of French support into the last 16 with a 6-2 6-1 win over Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Frenchwoman flummoxed the Polish ninth seed with a display that delighted the home crowd, and signalled a palpable belief in her ability to go much further here.
Results (Round 3)
Women
11-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Catherine Bellis (US) 6-2 2-6 6-3;
3-Simona Halep (Romania) bt 26-Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-0 7-5;
28-Caroline Garcia (France) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) 6-4 4-6 9-7;
21-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt 14-Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-4 6-4;
Alize Cornet (France) bt 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-2 6-1
Men
3-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt 28-Fabio Fognini (Italy) 7-6(2) 6-0 6-2;
1-Andy Murray (Britain) bt 29-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 7-6(8) 7-5 6-0; Kevin Anderson (SA) bt Kyle Edmund (Britain) 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 5-7 6-1 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt 22-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) 6-2 6-1 6-3; 7-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-1 6-3 6-3