French Open Day 6: Tracking the progress of seeded players

Round 2

#3 Rafael Nadal (Spain)

Nadal has played two rounds and has lost a set in each of them. Surprised? Everyone is. His opponent was a Martin Klizan, a tall lefty with a big serve, the kind of player that Nadal does not like to play against. Klizan got off the blocks well winning the first set, but the King of Clay did what he does best, rebounding to grind out a win in four sets 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-3.

#7 Richard Gasquet(France)

France’s No.2 dispatched Michal Przysiezny of Poland 6-3 6-3 6-0.

#8 Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)

In another of the many long 5-set duels that we witnessed on Day 6, Janko Tipsarevic quelled the comeback charge of Spanish clay courter Fernando Verdasco. After taking the first 2 sets, Tipsarevic saw the Spaniard come back strong to take sets 3 & 4. The match went to its limits before the Serb took the 5^th set 8-6 to complete a 7-6 6-1 3-6 5-7 8-6 in over four-and-a-half hours.

#9 Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)

‘Stan the Man’ has had a very good clay court season. He won at Estoril and made the finals of the Madrid Masters 1000 event, and he’s looking good here in the 1^st week. Horacio Zeballos is a clay court specialist and Stan did well to come through in straight sets 6-2 7-6 6-4. The Swiss hit an astonishing 50 winners during the match.

#19 John Isner (USA)

The battle of the Americans saw 19^th seed Isner take on Ryan Harrison. You can never discount a long one when ‘Marathon Man’ Isner is around, as this one too went the distance. The younger Harrison gave Isner quite the run for his money, taking the first two sets, before ‘Little John’ came up with the goods to put down his young challenger 5-7 6-7 6-3 6-1 8-6.

#21 Jerzy Janowicz (Poland)

The big Pole continued his fine recent run, making the 3^rd round with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 win over Robin Haase. Janowicz, standing at 6’8”, plays an explosive brand of tennis and has the capacity to rip through opponents and also ripping his shirt in the process after victory.

#29 Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)

Beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3 6-7 7-5 6-4.