World No. 1 Andy Murray fought hard to avoid at Roland Garros on Thursday when he knocked out the Slovakian Martin Klizan 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) for a place in the third round. Murray recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the fourth set against No. 50-ranked Klizan, who competed with strapping on his left calf, and last year’s finalist will next face Argentine No. 29 seed Juan Martin del Potro. "In my opinion Juan Martin plays better than what his ranking is,” said Murray. “He’s come back from injuries and he’s had a lot of tough draws this year. I think he’s played Novak a couple of times. He’s played a lot of top 10 players very early in the...
Stan Wawrinka hit 16 aces to persist through a tricky second-round contest on Thursday at Roland Garros, advancing 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5 against Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, who had won a clay-court title earlier this year at the Argentina Open (d. Nishikori). “I think was a really good match. I'm really happy with my game today,” Wawrinka said. “I think in general he was playing well. I knew what to expect against him. I needed to be focused on myself.” The third-seeded Wawrinka moves into the third round in Paris for the 10th time and has yet to drop a set during his 2017 Roland Garros campaign. He's trying to become only the third man in the Open Era to win three...
Juan Martin del Potro, the popular No. 29 seed, showed great compassion as his Spanish opponent Nicolas Almagro retired due to a left knee injury after 90 minutes of play on Thursday at Roland Garros. With the match level at one set-all, Del Potro served at 1-1 in the second set, but Almagro did not return the serve and collapsed in agony behind the baseline. Del Potro raced over to console Almagro, who has suffered a number of injuries in recent years, and walked him to his courtside chair. "I don't feel good enough after this sad situation," said del Potro. "I wish a good recovery to Nico. Hopefully he can feel better very, very soon, because he's a great...
It’s anyone’s guess who will take the doubles title at Roland Garros after a wild first round filled with upsets. For the first time in the Open Era at this event, the top two seeds have not passed the opening hurdle. The last time this happened at a Grand Slam was at the 2015 US Open. Third seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan avoided an early-round casualty on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya. The Bryan brothers, finalists in the past two years at Roland Garros, are looking to win their third crown at this event. They’ll next play Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt, who survived Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3)....
Grigor Dimitrov played with confidence on Wednesday to book a spot in the Roland Garros third round for the first time since 2013 (l. to Djokovic). The Bulgarian No. 11 seed avenged last month’s Grand Prix Hassan II loss to former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 second-round win in two hours and 13 minutes. “I think it was a better match today than the first one [against Stephane Robert],” said Dimitrov. “There were a lot of positive things. I still believe that I can do a few things better… We all know how Robredo can compete. [I’m] pleased with my game and looking forward to what's ahead right now.” [ALSO LIKE] Dimitrov lost just nine...