10SBALLS TENNIS UPDATE FROM PARIS & THE 2016 FRENCH OPEN

Written by: Staff on 25th May 2016

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

10SBALLS TENNIS UPDATE FROM PARIS & THE 2016 FRENCH OPEN

epa05328554 Andy Murray of Britain in action against Mathias Bourgue of France during their men's single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2016. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Djokovic, Nadal hope to avoid same French Open tests endured by Murray, Wawrinka By Ricky Dimon

Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are making a relative mess of things in the bottom half of the French Open draw. What counts, of course, is that they are both still alive. But to say it has not been easy would be an understatement.

Murray has won consecutive five-setters over qualifier Radek Stepanek and wild card Mathias Bourgue. After holding off Stepanek 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 in a darkness-delayed match on Tuesday, the second-seeded Scot survived the little-known Bourgue 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.

“Today certainly wasn’t easy,” Murray assured after getting past the world No. 164. “I lost my way on the court today for quite a while. So (it was good) to turn it around and find a way to win after a period where I was struggling to win points at one stage–I was losing a lot of games at love. It felt like…every time the ball was in the middle of the court he was hitting winners. I couldn’t see where his shots were going. Yeah, it was a big struggle.”

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in action against Taro Daniel of Japan during their men’s single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2016. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

Wawrinka at least reduced his number of sets from five to three, but he also ran into some trouble on Tuesday. Having previously overcome Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, the defending champion beat Taro Daniel 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-4. But Wawrinka trailed 6-4 in the first-set tiebreaker and by 4-2 in the third before recovering in each of those sets.

“(It) was a good match,” the world No. 4 commented. “I’m happy to get through in three sets. For sure it was some up and down, could have been better, but winning three sets [is] always good…. In general I think it’s been a good day.”

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will hope to have an easier time of things on Thursday, just as they did on Tuesday. Djokovic coasted through his opener against Yen-Hsun Lu via a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 scoreline, while Nadal triple-breadsticked Sam Groth 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Next up for the world No. 1 is Steve Darcis, against whom he is a perfect 2-0. Djokovic prevailed 6-4, 6-0 eight years ago on the clay courts of Rome and 6-0, 7-5 last year in Miami. Darcis is coming off a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 rout of Marsel Ilhan, which gave the 161st-ranked Belgian his first ATP-level win of the season and his fourth career victory in the Roland Garros main draw. Since dropping the opening set of his qualifying campaign last week, Darcis has won nine consecutive sets.

“I love sharks,” Djokovic quipped when told during his press conference that Darcis’ nickname is ‘The Shark.’ “He’s been around the tour for many years. He had a couple of big wins–I think (against) Nadal in Wimbledon a couple of years ago. Generally, I think he prefers playing on quicker surfaces. So I haven’t seen him play much on clay; gonna have to do a little bit of homework there.”

Nadal is also set for a first-time meeting, as he has never faced Facundo Bagnis. The all-lefty battle was booked when Bagnis downed Kenny De Schepper 6-0, 6-2, 7-6(2) in the opening round. The 99th-ranked Argentine is perhaps best known for beating Julien Benneteau 18-16 in the fifth set during first-round action at Roland Garros in 2014. That was the only Grand Slam win of Bagnis’ career prior to Tuesday.