Nadal holds a 21-6 advantage over Ferrer in their career meetings but it was his compatriot, who won their most recent clash in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals in April. PHOTO: AFP
Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal stormed into a French Open quarter-final clash against David Ferrer on Monday with rock star Prince in the stands and King Juan Carlos on his mind.
World number one Nadal, who turns 28 on Tuesday, brushed aside Dusan Lajovic, the world 83 from Serbia, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
He was at his ruthless, efficient best against Lajovic who claimed a paltry 15 points off the champion’s serve.
Watched by US rocker Prince, who played a concert in the French capital on Sunday night, Nadal, seeking to become the first man to win five French Opens in a row, needed just 93 minutes to go through to a last-eight showdown with Ferrer.
The two men met in last year’s final where Nadal allowed his 32-year-old Davis Cup teammate just eight games.
Despite his Philippe Chatrier court mauling, Lajovic at least had the consolation of avoiding the worst Roland Garros rout handed out by Nadal.
That unwanted record belongs to Juan Monaco who won just two games in a fourth round drubbing in 2012.
“Lajovic had a great tournament, he had three good wins,” said Nadal, whose record in Paris now stands at 63 wins against just one defeat.
“It’s never easy playing on this Philippe Chatrier court for the first time. I controlled the points from the baseline and I am happy to be into another quarter-final.”
Such was the ease of Nadal’s latest Paris win that he spent most of his time at his post-match news conference discussing the abdication of King Juan Carlos of Spain.
“He is a wonderful person who was a great representative of our country and Spain should thank him,” said Nadal.
“I had the opportunity to meet him on quite a few occasions. He was always very nice and warm towards me. He made me feel very comfortable every time we met.”
Meanwhile, Ferrer reached his 10th successive Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 win over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
Errani wears down Jankovic to reach last eight
Italian Sara Errani reached the French Open quarter-finals on Monday as the 10th seed defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
Errani, the 2012 runner-up to Maria Sharapova, won a bitterly contested first set that lasted one hour 21 minutes and saw eight breaks of serve, four from each player.
The 27-year-old from Bologna took control in the tie-break leading 5-2 before sealing the opening frame 7-5.
Jankovic, the former world number one and three-time semi-finalist in Paris, appeared to lose heart in the second set as Errani raced into a 3-0 lead.
She then staved off a brief Jankovic comeback to close out the match on her second match point.
Errani now plays Germany’s Andrea Petkovic for a place in the semi-finals.
In another encounter, Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep reached the quarter-finals as she defeated American Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-3.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2014.
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