Paris: Clearly Nikoloz Basilashvili had come to face Rafa Nadal with a plan but, like Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan until they’re punched in the face.
And that’s what happened – in tennis terms – to the Georgian when he took on the irrepressible Spaniard in the French Open third round here Friday.
The brutality of Nadal’s destruction of the Georgian on the Roland Garros main showcourt was withering. The statistics within the 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 pummelling make for grisly reading. Grisly for Basilashvili, grisly for Nadal’s next opponent Roberto Bautista Agut, grisly for everyone in the draw.
For example, it took Basilashvili until the 12th game of the match to register on the scoreboard. He won one in four of his first serve points in the opening set.
The number of winners he struck in the match could be counted on one hand, and his 34 unforced errors almost matched the entire number of points he won all match – 36.
Nadal is a unique creature on clay, though. His statistics are mind-boggling. Friday’s victory was his 100th best-of-five-set match on the slow surface, and he now has a staggering win-loss ratio of 98-2.
Meanwhile fifth seed Milos Raonic reached the French Open last 16 for the second year in a row after Spanish veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired at the start of the second set with a thigh muscle injury.
Raonic, the World No. 6, cruised through the first set 6-1 in 21 minutes and led 1-0 in the second when the Spaniard retired at the changeover after a brief exchange with his opponent.
In another match, American Steve Johnson played his heart out under electric Roland Garros skies before losing to Dominic Thiem in three sets, trading power and precision with the Austrian sixth seed in two hours of tension-filled tennis. Thiem won 6-1, 7-6(7-4), 6-3 winner.
In women’s singles Garbine Muguruza showed glimpses of the form that had propelled her to her first Major championship here last year. The Spaniard played some precision shots to win 7-5, 6-2 against Yulia Putintseva. “happy to have played a two-set match finally,” she said after her victory.
Mixed day for Indian players
The Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan advanced to the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals after an upset win but their senior compatriot Leander Paes bowed out of the French Open here Friday.
Another Indian Sania Mirza began her campaign with a win in mixed doubles with her partner Ivan Dodig of Croatia. The second seeded Indo-Croatian pair beat the Croatian combo of Darija Jurak and Mate Pavic 7-5, 6-3 in the opening round match.
In men’s doubles, the unseeded Raja and Sharan upstaged the 15th-seeded Austrian-Croat combo of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a second-round match that lasted 131 minutes.
The young Indian pair sent down five aces and also converted two of the five breakpoint chances that came their way.
In another second round men’s doubles match, Paes and his American partner Scott Lipsky lost 6-7, 2-6 to Tommy Robredo and Simon Marrero crash out.
Paes also lost his mixed doubles opening round match to make an early exit from the tournament. Paes and his partner Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who were unseeded, lost to fourth seeds Katarina Srebotnik (Slovakia) and Raven Klaasen (South Africa) 4-6, 6-1, 2-10.
Rohan Bopanna and his partner Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, however, advanced to the pre-quarters with a hard-fought 5-7, 7-6 6-4 win over the pair of Treat Huey (Philippines) and Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan).
Agencies