Tennis News

The top seed at this year’s French Open will come across a player seeded 19 places below him in the draw when Novak Djokovic steps out on court to face Richard Gasquet for a spot in the quarter-final round of the tournament. Novak leads the overall head-to-head 10-1 and has won eight consecutive matches against Gasquet, dating back to 2010.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic stepped out on court on Saturday to challenge one of the tour’s rising star in Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis, who gave the Serb a tough, competitive fight for the entire duration of their match. While Djokovic won the match in straight sets, it was a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 scoreline and he was not shy to congratulate Kokkinakis on his efforts thereafter.

“I think that tennis needs players like Thanasi, who is a teenager, but still able to come out on centre court and play with courage and play with power and believe in himself,” said Djokovic following a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kokkinakis. “He’s one of this group of three, four young players that are starting to be more and more consistent and make a couple of big wins in their careers and that are obviously expected to do very well from the tennis world.”

In a slightly more difficult meeting earlier in the day, Richard Gasquet was forced to rally from a set down to beat Kevin Anderson 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4. He withstood 22 aces, struck 44 winners and converted two break points to earn the win.

Djokovic leads the head-to-head with Gasquet 10-1 and has not lost to the Frenchman in eight consecutive matches spanning over four years. Gasquet has not taken a set off the Serbian no. 1 since his last win over him in 2007, when the Tour Finals was hosted in Shanghai. It is hard to imagine Richard having much luck against Djokovic,. In all cases, this should be a quick straight sets victory for Djokovic but it is not impossible for Gasquet to stretch it a fourth set.
 

Following three solid matches at Roland Garros this season, nine-time champion Rafael Nadal will be faced with his first legitimate obstacle in the draw when he comes up against America’s Jack Sock in the fourth round of the tournament. This will serve as the first meeting between the two competitors and will certainly be an entertaining affair on Monday.

In a surprisingly quick rise in form, Nadal managed to secure entry into the fourth round of the French Open following yet another straight sets win against Andrey Kuznetsov. Seeded sixth at this year’s tournament, Nadal struck 33 winners and converted eight break points to secure the 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win.

“It will be not fair if I say that I am not happy about what happened this first week, being fourth round without losing a set,” said Nadal. “I think playing solid, consistent. That’s what I need to. Then I arrive the second week and you know that you have to go that extra step to have chances. So I hope to have a good practice tomorrow and be ready to play a great match on Monday, because I will need it.”

Nadal will come up against Jack Sock, who earned his place in his first Grand Slam fourth round when he defeated 18-year-old Borna Coric in straight sets. He struck six aces and 31 winners to close out the match 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

“It was a good day for me,” Sock said. “I was fortunate enough to play great tennis. And once again, things I was looking to do I was able to do that very well today. In general, I think he plays pretty far behind the baseline and kind of lets the opponent maneuver the ball a little bit. He’s a great defender, makes a lot of balls, and is very quick. I usually feel pretty good when I’m hitting a lot of forehands, especially from the left side of the court, and able to move the ball around and dictate play. I was able to do that today fortunately.”

This marks the first time that Nadal and Sock will cross paths on the professional tour and could be considered a mild litmus test for Nadal to determine whether he is indeed on a rapid return to form, or if he simply has not met the correct level of competition yet.
 

For the third time so far this season, world No. 1 Serena Williams and American youngster Sloane Stephens will meet again on the WTA tour to rekindle their rivalry. Stephens’ ascended to notoriety with her upset victory over Williams at the Australian Open two years ago but still trails her American counterpart 1-4 in the head-to-head series. She also lost her only clay court encounter against Williams, which took place a few weeks ago in Madrid.

In a bizarre third round encounter on Saturday, Serena Williams found herself down a set and a break to Victoria Azarenka before she reeled off four consecutive games to secure the second set and force a decider. From there, Williams rallied to victory to secure her run to the fourth round of the tournament.

“I was really disappointed with my last match, and I knew I couldn’t play like that against someone like Vika. It would be impossible to win,” Williams said. “Even though I lost the first set, I told myself, ‘Well at least you’re playing better than in your second round match.’ I would have lost so easily if I played that same way. It was definitely better today – it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

In a far simpler match, Sloane Stephens dispatched Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets to earn her place in the fourth round. She won the match 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 15 minutes of court time.

This marks the sixth time that Williams and Stephens will cross paths on the professional tour and the third time so far this season. Williams leads the head-to-head series 4-1. Apart from their most recent meetings at Indian Wells and Madrid over the past few months, the two had not crossed paths in over two years, which certainly added to the flair. In the end, however, Williams should still have little trouble closing out this match. She won their most recent encounter – a clay court match – in straight sets and will likely duplicate that effort in Paris on Monday.