Rafael Nadal’s quest for a 10th Roland Garros crown continued on Wednesday with a convincing 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Robin Haase in the second round.
The Spaniard, seeded fourth in Paris, improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Haase to 3-0 and boosts his record at Roland Garros to 74-2. He has done well to conserve energy in the early rounds, spending just three hours and 41 minutes on court in his first two matches.
“Robin is always a dangerous opponent. I was more in less control during the whole match, so winning in straight sets is always great news,” said Nadal. “I think I played a solid match and hit my forehand very well. My serve worked better than two days ago. I think I did a lot of things well this afternoon.”
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Nadal finished the day with 33 winners to 13 unforced errors, breaking Haase five times. He was also flawless on serve, not facing a break point in the contest. Perhaps, most surprising, was Nadal’s willingness to charge to the front of the court in a bid to shorten points, winning 15 of 22 trips to the net.
Watch out! @robin_haase turns Robin Hood in his 2R encounter with Nadal.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/kaxRh0Yt0F
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2017
Next up for Nadal is Nikoloz Basilashvili, who reached the third round at Roland Garros for the first time by defeating Viktor Troicki 7-6(3), 7-6(2), 7-6(6). The Georgian, currently No. 63 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, has produced solid results in 2017. He reached the final in Memphis (l. Harrison) and recorded semi-final showings in Sofia and Lyon.
“The opponent is always dangerous because this is Roland Garros. I need to focus on winning,” said Nadal. “There are days where things go well and other days when things don't go so well. But when I walk onto the court, I work for every point and have deep respect for all of my opponents.”
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com