Milos Raonic relied on his most destructive weapon – his serve – to fight back and prevail against a clay-court veteran on Wednesday at Roland Garros. The fifth-seeded Canadian struck 25 aces, including four in the final game, to beat Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and move into the third round. “There's some pluses to take out of it, some things I definitely want to do better. Obviously, I was very competitive. I felt a little bit sluggish to start. Sort of let him really into it, and you could see that he started believing after a while, and that's always a dangerous state. I managed to weather the storm and hold it out throughout that match,”...
Novak Djokovic delivered another convincing performance on Wednesday to continue the defence of his 2016 Roland Garros title, outplaying Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to move into the third round in Paris. Djokovic is trying to become the first man in the Open Era – and the third man in history – to capture each of the four Grand Slams twice. Roy Emerson and Rod Laver also achieved the feat. Last year, Djokovic won his first Roland Garros title to complete his career Grand Slam. “Generally I felt better than the first round, so that's exactly what I wanted,” Djokovic said. The Serbian was tested by the 28-year-old Sousa, who was unintimidated by the occasion and striving for personal...
World No. 91 Renzo Olivo endured a restless night, but on his return to Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros on Wednesday, he needed just a few minutes to end a six-match losing streak and wrap up the biggest win of his career. Leading French favourite and No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(6), 5-4 on Tuesday night, in a first-round match suspended at 9:54 p.m. due to darkness, Olivo returned to the main stadium court and immediately broke Tsonga’s serve for victory. “I didn't sleep well,” said Olivo. “I finished everything at around one o’clock in the morning. So it was really late. And then after, with the adrenaline of the match, I couldn't sleep much. So it...
World No. 7 Dominic Thiem made smooth progress into the third round at Roland Garros on Wednesday as he defeated Simone Bolelli 7-5, 6-1, 6-3. Thiem advanced in two hours and 22 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen, hitting 42 winners and creating 30 break point chances, six of which he converted against the No. 470-ranked Bolelli. The 23-year-old Thiem broke into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on the back of reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros last year (l. to Djokovic) and has not left the game’s elite since. Looking for another strong run on the Parisian clay, Thiem came into Roland Garros in rich form, having reached his first ATP World Tour Masters...
Fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares made a winning start to their 2017 Roland Garros campaign, while top seeds Henri Kontinen/John Peers and defending champions Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez bowed out as doubles action began Tuesday in Paris. Murray and Soares defeated the Serbian duo of Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki 6-3, 7-6(0). Kontinen and Peers lost to recent Estoril finalists David Marrero and Tommy Robredo 7-6(3), 6-3, while sixth seeds Lopez and Lopez fell to Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 6-2, 6-3. Kontinen and Peers had been looking to continue their Parisian winning streak, following their triumph last November at the Tennis Paris Masters (d. Herbert/Mahut). The first-round loss Tuesday marked their earliest exit since the opening week of...