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| May 28, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1426 |
Federer and Nadal record easy wins as Davenport struggles
PARIS, May 27: Top seed Roger Federer and young challenger Rafael Nadal both scored straight sets win at the French Open on Friday and remained on course for a mouth-watering semifinal. Federer, seeking in Paris to complete his set of Grand Slam titles, overcame stern early resistance from big-hitting Chilean Fernando Gonzalez before coasting through 7-6 (11/9), 7-5, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Nadal, seen as the biggest threat to the Swiss player, dominated fellow 18-year-old Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
In the women’s tournament, top seed Lindsay Davenport struggled again and needed three sets to despatch France’s Virginie Razzano.
She will next go up against Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, who has won the last six games between the two.
Federer, bidding to become only the sixth man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments, next faces 1998 champion Carlos Moya, who won a five-set marathon against Spanish compatriot Fernando Vicente, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Sounding a confident note, Federer said that he feared no one.
Moya, the 14th seed, saw off Vicente 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (3/7), 0-6, 6-4 and will go into his meeting with Federer knowing that he has lost all five of their career meetings.
Nadal was much too good for Gasquet in the battle of the boy-wonders taking just 1hr 49mins to win and reducing the partisan Centre Court crowd to a stunned silence.
But if there was disappointment for the home fans, there was glorious confirmation that Nadal, playing in his first French Open, is the big threat to Federer for the title.
Nadal’s victory means that he has won 20 clay-court matches in a row this year including title wins at Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Rome.
The Spaniard struck with early service breaks in each of the three sets and his greater control and determination kept the Frenchman from deploying his armoury of attacking shots.
By the time Nadal had taken the second set, the Frenchman looked lost knowing that to win he would have to go the five sets distance, something he had never done before in his short career.
Nadal, well on top by now, broke Gasquet to lead 2-0 in the third set and although the Frenchman did manage to level, the Spaniard rattled off four straight games to charge into the fourth round.
The Spaniard will next go up against another Frenchman for a place in the quarterfinals after Sebastien Grosjean outlasted the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in another third round tie.
Davenport and Clijsters took different routes into their fourth round confrontation.
While the Belgian 14th seed blasted her way past Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in double-quick time 6-4, 6-2, Davenport was taken all the way by unseeded Razzano before coming through 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The 21-year-old Clijsters holds a career lead of 18-12 over the 28-year-old Davenport, including their last six matches, but the two have never met on clay.
Clijsters, the runner-up in 2001 and 2003, is playing her first Grand Slam tournament since the Australian Open in 2004 after missing most of last year with a wrist injury.
When she returned to the tour she picked up back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami, sending her ranking up from 133 to its current 17.
Friday’s third round results:
Men’s singles: Roger Federer (SUI) bt Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 7-6 (11/9), 7-5, 6-2; Carlos Moya (ESP) bt Fernando Vicente (ESP) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (3/7), 0-6, 6-4; Rafael Nadal (ESP) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA ) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; David Ferrer (ESP ) bt Lee Hyung-Taik (KOR) 6-3, 6-1, 7-5; Sebastien Grosjean (FRA ) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE x16) 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Women’s singles: Kim Clijsters (BEL) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 6-4, 6-2; Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva (RUS ) bt Silvia Farina Elia (ITA) 7-5, 7-6 (7/2); Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Akiko Morigami (JPN) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.—Agencies
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