Sports

Nadal canters while Kokkinakis breaks through

Beat Almagro, Tomic respectively to progress into third round

Afp May 28, 2015

Rafael Nadal recorded his 68th win at Rolland Garros, with only one loss in the tournaments’ history, after defeating compatriot Nicolas Almagro on Thursday. PHOTO: AFP

PARIS: Defending champion Rafael Nadal stayed on course for a 10th French Open title with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 breeze past compatriot Nicolas Almagro on Thursday.

But teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis gave a glimpse of the potential future of the sport when he saved three match points to beat fellow Australian Bernard Tomic 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 to make the third round of a major for the first time.

Sixth seed Nadal will face either Austria’s Jurgen Melzer or Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia for a place in the last 16.

“I am very happy. I played a great match and was very solid,” said nine-time champion Nadal who has now defeated Almagro 13 times out of 14.

Former top-tenner Almagro, a three-time quarter-finalist in Paris, has seen his ranking slip to 154 after missing the second half of the 2014 season to undergo foot surgery.

Meanwhile out on Court Seven, 19-year-old Kokkinakis, making his Roland Garros debut on a wildcard, came back from 2-5 down in the decider and saved three match points to defeat 27th seed Tomic.

Serena, Kvitova survive scares

World number one Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova survived big scares at the French Open, with both needing to come back from a set down to reach the third round.

Serena, 19 times a Grand Slam winner, survived an almighty fright before finally seeing off the challenge of world number 105 Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.

The 33-year-old, top-seeded American dropped the first set and faced break points against her unheralded 21-year-old opponent in the second, but she rallied just in time to go through 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

In cold, blustery conditions, fourth seed Kvitova made it through to the last 32 with a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa.

“It was a tough match again. Second round of a Grand Slam is always difficult,” said Kvitova.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2015.

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