RICKY DIMON REPORTS RAFAEL NADAL BEGINS FRENCH OPEN IN ROUTINE FASHION, ROGER FEDERER BACK IN ACTION ON WEDNESDAY

It will take more than a win over an 18-year-old Frenchman who has never won a match at the ATP level in order for Rafael Nadal to restore complete confidence in his game. Still, he could not have asked for a much better start to his 2015 French Open campaign.

 

Nadal rolled over wild card Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 during first-round action on Tuesday afternoon. The nine-time champion committed a mere 13 unforced errors, doubled that count with 26 winners, and got the job done after one hour and 50 minutes.

 

The only time he dropped serve came when he was already enjoying a double-break advantage at 4-1 in the first set. Halys made a push to get within 3-4, but Nadal held for 5-3 then broke again in the ninth game to put away the opening frame.

 

“After the first three games, when I started a little bit slow, [I started] moving the ball better,” Nadal explained. “I am happy with the way that I played. It is the first match and I played well enough. I think my forehand worked well for a lot of moments.”

 

Next up for the world No. 7 is fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who fought past Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6).

 

The world No. 7 joins Roger Federer in the second round after Federer advanced with a similar 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory at the expense of lucky loser Alejandro Falla two days earlier. The 2009 Roland Garros winner will look for a place in the last 32 when he goes up against Marcel Granollers.

 

Federer is looking poised to capitalized on what is a borderline ideal draw at Roland Garros (Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray are all in the other half), as his current form is impressive. The world No. 2 captured a clay-court title earlier this month in Istanbul and he reached the Rome final before succumbing to Djokovic.

 

The head-to-head series with Granollers stands at 3-0 in favor of Federer, who twice prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in Dubai (2011 and 2013) before scoring a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory at last summer’s U.S. Open. Granollers opened on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) defeat of qualifier Matthias Bachinger. The 57th-ranked Spaniard is just 10-12 for the year but a decent 6-5 on clay. As their past meetings suggest, this should be utterly straightforward for a confident Federer.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp World Tour, French Open Tennis, Quentin Halys, Rafa Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros 2015, Sports

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