French Open: Finally, straight-sets victory for Murray
Second seed advances to last-16 after 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 win against Karlovic
It was Murray’s first straight-sets win in the 2016 French Open as he took five sets to win the first two matches of his current Roland Garros campaign. PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIS:
Andy Murray coasted into the last-16 at the French Open yesterday, downing giant Ivo Karlovic in straight sets in stark contrast to the five-setters he needed in the first two rounds.
The second seed won 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in 1hr 56min. His victories over Czech veteran Radek Stepanek and French wildcard Mathias Bourgue took him a combined total of 7hr 15 min.
“It was very close especially at the end,” said Murray.“I got off to a quick start and against someone like Ivo, that’s very important. Glad to win that tie-break at the end.”
Nadal withdraws from French Open with wrist injury
Murray got off to the best of possible starts by breaking Karlovic’s huge serve at the first two times of asking.
That gave him a 5-0 lead and two games later he had the first set in the bag at 6-1.
At 37, Karlovic was the oldest player to reach the third round in Paris since Jimmy Connors in 1991 and he topped the charts after two rounds winning 92% of his service games.
But he struggled again at the start of the second, with Murray making it three breaks out four service games faced.
French Open: Super Serena storm into third round
Comfortable on his own serve, Murray pulled away again and he was soon two sets up.
The third was a tighter affair, but with Karlovic unable to muster up a single break point, it was just a case of Murray grabbing a fourth break of serve when the chance came along or winning the tie-break.
The latter proved to be the option and Murray made no mistake with that, grabbing a mini-break at the start to take control.
Seeds Muguruza, Halep into last 16
Fourth seed Garbine Muguruza and sixth seed Simona Halep both reached the last 16 of the French Open but in contrasting fashions.
With the early exits of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and the powerful Victoria Azarenka, the Spaniard and the Romanian are seen as the biggest threats to Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equalling 22nd grand slam title.
French Open: Djokovic reaches third round
Serena is in the other half of the draw and has reached the third round without dropping a set.
The 22-year-old Venezuela-born Muguruza, who lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Serena, easily saw off the challenge of Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0, winning nine games in a row from 3-3 in the first set.
Halep, a losing finalist to Maria Sharapova in Paris two years ago, was stretched by 18-year-old US-based Japanese player Naomi Osaka before pulling through 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2016.
Andy Murray coasted into the last-16 at the French Open yesterday, downing giant Ivo Karlovic in straight sets in stark contrast to the five-setters he needed in the first two rounds.
The second seed won 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in 1hr 56min. His victories over Czech veteran Radek Stepanek and French wildcard Mathias Bourgue took him a combined total of 7hr 15 min.
“It was very close especially at the end,” said Murray.“I got off to a quick start and against someone like Ivo, that’s very important. Glad to win that tie-break at the end.”
Nadal withdraws from French Open with wrist injury
Murray got off to the best of possible starts by breaking Karlovic’s huge serve at the first two times of asking.
That gave him a 5-0 lead and two games later he had the first set in the bag at 6-1.
At 37, Karlovic was the oldest player to reach the third round in Paris since Jimmy Connors in 1991 and he topped the charts after two rounds winning 92% of his service games.
But he struggled again at the start of the second, with Murray making it three breaks out four service games faced.
French Open: Super Serena storm into third round
Comfortable on his own serve, Murray pulled away again and he was soon two sets up.
The third was a tighter affair, but with Karlovic unable to muster up a single break point, it was just a case of Murray grabbing a fourth break of serve when the chance came along or winning the tie-break.
The latter proved to be the option and Murray made no mistake with that, grabbing a mini-break at the start to take control.
Seeds Muguruza, Halep into last 16
Fourth seed Garbine Muguruza and sixth seed Simona Halep both reached the last 16 of the French Open but in contrasting fashions.
With the early exits of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and the powerful Victoria Azarenka, the Spaniard and the Romanian are seen as the biggest threats to Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equalling 22nd grand slam title.
French Open: Djokovic reaches third round
Serena is in the other half of the draw and has reached the third round without dropping a set.
The 22-year-old Venezuela-born Muguruza, who lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Serena, easily saw off the challenge of Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0, winning nine games in a row from 3-3 in the first set.
Halep, a losing finalist to Maria Sharapova in Paris two years ago, was stretched by 18-year-old US-based Japanese player Naomi Osaka before pulling through 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2016.