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Nadal wins again at French Open

Fri 30th, May 2008

Paris, France (Sports Network) - Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal continued his amazing success on the famed red clay of Roland Garros with a straight-set victory Friday in third-round action at the French Open.

Nadal, playing for the third time in as many days because of rain earlier in the week, polished off Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 rout. The second-seeded Spaniard is trying for a record-tying fourth straight French Open crown and improved his record to 24-0 all-time in the Paris slam.

In his first three matches, Nadal has yet to drop a set and has lost only 19 games. He also improved to an astounding 111-2 in his last 113 clay-court matches since 2005.

"The good thing is I managed to survive these three matches without even losing one set," said Nadal. "I'm not that tired. I don't feel that much fatigue, and tomorrow I'll rest for a while. Therefore, I'll be able to recharge the batteries, and then on Sunday I'll be here 100% so that I can play an excellent match."

Nadal will meet countryman Fernando Verdasco on Sunday. The 22nd-seeded Verdasco toppled 15th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic also advanced Friday with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over American Wayne Odesnik. The third-seeded Serbian was a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year and will next play crowd favorite Paul-Henri Mathieu. The 18th-seeded Frenchman needed just over three hours to pull out a 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (11-9) victory over Argentina's Eduardo Schwank.

Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, the 19th seed, took out 10th-seeded Scot Andy Murray, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5, and will next take on France's Jeremy Chardy, who defeated 30th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-4.

Latvia's Ernests Gulbis and Frenchman Michael Llodra were also third-round winners and will meet in the fourth round. Gulbis, who upended seventh-seeded American James Blake in the second round on Thursday, cruised to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, while Llodra used a pair of tiebreakers to beat Italy's Simone Bolelli, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Two second-round matches were completed on Friday, as France's Florent Serra disposed of Romania's Victor Hanescu in four sets and Frenchman Julien Benneteau completed a five-set triumph over Colombia's Alejandro Falla.

Serra earned a Saturday third-round match with American Robby Ginepri and Benneteau advanced to meet Sweden's Robin Soderling in the third round.

Other third-round matches Saturday feature Swiss superstar Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Spain's David Ferrer.

Federer, the top seed and runner-up the past two years, will take on Croatia's Mario Ancic, while the fourth-seeded Davydenko will tackle another Croatian in Ivan Ljubicic. Ferrer, the fifth seed, will meet two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.

Also on Saturday, ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland will square off against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, 12th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo will battle Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and a pair of unseeded players will face off as Gael Monfils of France plays Austria's Jurgen Melzer.

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