Nadal Moves to 68-1 at Roland Garros After Win Over Almagro
Rafael Nadal moved on to round three of the French Open on Thursday, defeating fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Nadal advances to face the winner of Thursday’s match between Jurgen Melzer and Andrey Kuznetsov. Nadal had also beaten Almagro in 2008, 2010 and 2012 at Roland Garros.
With the win, Nadal is now 68-1 lifetime at the French Open, his lone loss coming in 2009 at the hands of Robin Söderling in the fourth round. Thursday’s win was Nadal’s 13th in 14 head-to-head meetings with Almagro.
Coming into the match, Nadal approached the ATP to request that chair umpire Carlos Bernardes not be assigned to his matches due to a dispute between the two dating back to February. Nadal said he respects Bernardes, but it is "better for both of us if we are not (on a) court at the same time for a while." Nadal felt disrespected during a match at the Rio Open, after informing Bernardes that he needed to return to the locker room to adjust his shorts, but Nadal said Bernardes was going to issue him a time warning.
Also advancing Thursday was 2014 U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic, defeating qualifier over world number 187-ranked Andrea Arnaboldi 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-1. Cilic moves on to face the number 23 seed Leonardo Mayer who was victorious over Jerzy Janowicz, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-1.
The fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori also advanced Thursday, a walkover winner over Benjamin Becker to move on to the fourth round. Becker injured a pectoral muscle during a five-set win over Fernando Verdasco of Spain, as Nishikori gets a break until Sunday when he plays in the Round of 16.
The upset of the day so far goes to Thanasi Kokkinakis, beating fellow Australian Bernard Tomic, the 27th seed, in five sets to reach the third round. Kokkinakis trailed two sets to love and then was down 5-2 in the final set, but battled back both times to win the match 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6. Kokkinakis awaits the winner between Thursday afternoon’s match between Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and the number one seed, Novak Djokovic.
Pablo Andujar of Spain defeated the 22-seed, Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 7-6(5), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 to move on to round three. Andujar will next meet the number 14 seed, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Also on Thursday, the 29th-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia was a walkover winner over Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund who bowed out due to a stomach ailment.
Other men’s singles matches scheduled for Thursday include:
â–º[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. Gilles Muller (LUX)
â–º[3] Andy Murray (GBR) vs. Joao Sousa (POR)
â–º[7] David Ferrer (ESP) vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP)
â–º[15] Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)
â–º[16] John Isner (USA) vs. Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
â–º[17] David Goffin (BEL) vs. Santiago Giraldo (COL)
â–º[18] Tommy Robredo (ESP) vs. Borna Coric (CRO)
â–º[20] Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs. Carlos Berlocq (ARG)
â–º[31] Viktor Troicki (SRB) vs. Simone Bolelli (ITA)
â–ºJack Sock (USA) vs. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)
