Nadal, Federer, Wawrinka through to French Open’s quarterfinals
Roger Federer defeated Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6/2, 6/3, 6/3 to reach the quarterfinals of the on-going French Open Tennis Championship along with Rafael Nadal, who defeated another Argentinean, Juan Ignacio Londero 6/2, 6/2, 6/3.
Also in the quarterfinals is Stan Wawrinka, who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 7/6 (6), 5/7, 6/4, 3/6, 8/6 in the marathon of the day.The third seeded Federer had little problem in handling the 32-year old Mayer from Buenos Aires. In previous matches, Mayer had dispatched compatriot Diego Schwartzman in four sets and France’s Nicolas Mahut in five sets that involved two tiebreakers.
Those two marathon matches had taken their toll on Mayer. By the victory, Federer reached the quarterfinals in Paris after a deliberate absence since 2015.
Juan Ignacio Londero had battled for almost four hours in his 2/6, 6/3, 6/4, 5/7, 6/4 victory over Frenchman, Corentin Moutet in the third round. He had little energy left to face the maestro, Nadal, who swept him off Phillip Chatrier Court with but a brief resistance.
In the third set, Nadal took the third game on a break and held serve to lead 3-1. A second break gave Nadal a 4-1 lead but Londero broke Nadal’s serve in the sixth game. A routine hold of serve gave Nadal the 5-3 lead and he broke Londero’s serve to win the set and match 6/3. It was a battle of service returns as neither player made many aces serves, with Nadal registering six aces and one double fault.
Londero delivered four aces and made two double faults. In the marathon fought on Suzanne Lenglen Court, the sixth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas lost a close first set 7/6 (6) to the 24th seed, Stan Wawrinka, but rallied to take the second set 7/5.
The two shared the third and fourth sets. In the fifth set, Wawrinka saved three break points in the first game and also denied Tsitsipas two game points in the sixth game. Each player held serve to six games apiece but there would be no tiebreak.The 34-year old Wawrinka broke Tsitsipas in the 14th game to win the set 8/6. He hammered a total of 16 aces that got him out of danger at critical points.
