Britain’s Andy Murray thanks the crowd for “coming out to support the tennis” following the “terrible” terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May-11 June |
| Coverage: Live radio commentary and text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Second seed Karolina Pliskova came through a tricky match against world number 97 Veronica Cepede Royg to make the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
Czech Pliskova was shocked in the first set by the Paraguayan but won 2-6 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 51 minutes.
Third seed Simona Halep of Romania is also through after she thrashed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-1.
Halep, the 2014 runner-up, swept aside her 21st-seeded opponent from Spain in exactly one hour.
It was the Romanian’s first win over Suarez Navarro on clay in six attempts.
She will play fifth seed Elina Svitolina for a place in the semi-finals after she came from 2-5 down in the final set to beat Petra Martic.
Svitolina, 22, needed treatment to her back and was in massive trouble at 0-30 down at 2-5 in the third.
But she somehow rallied to win 4-6 6-3 7-5 and thanked the crowd for their support.
“You give me this energy to fight for every ball and I was trying to not let you down,” she said.
“I decided to give everything I had, and to stay strong mentally. Today I was struggling a bit with my injury but hopefully I can recover well and be strong for the quarter-final.”
In an all-French fourth-round match Caroline Garcia, the 28th seed, beat rival Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4.
With no former champions left in the draw, and Maria Sharapova and the pregnant Serena Williams not competing, the field is wide open.
Scottish star to meet Nishikori or Verdasco in last eight
World No. 1 Andy Murray recorded the 650th match win of his career on Monday when he booked his spot in the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the seventh time.
Murray served with great fluency to end the run of 21-year-old #NextGenATP Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes. It was his 20th match win of the season.
Murray, the 15th player in ATP World Tour history to reach the 650 victories (or more) milestone, will next play eighth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori or Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
? Superbe point de @Andy_Murray face à @karenkhachanov #RG17 ? pic.twitter.com/ykvcw4L0Z1
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 5, 2017
Last year’s finalist didn’t give Khachanov any rhythm, and while the Russian broke serve two times – at 2-3 in the second set and 3-4 in the third set – Murray bounced back immediately, finishing the encounter with 29 winners, and just 12 unforced errors.
Khachanov was looking to become the first player to reach the quarter-finals on his clay-court Grand Slam championship debut since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May- 11 June |
| Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Britain’s Andy Murray produced a clinical performance to see off Russian Karen Khachanov and reach a seventh French Open quarter-final.
The world number one came through 6-3 6-4 6-4 to claim his 650th Tour-level victory in two hours and four minutes.
The Scot, 30, goes on to face Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the eighth seed, in the last eight.
After his win, Murray paid tribute to the victims of recent terror attacks in Manchester and London.
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“It was a terrible tragedy in London and also in Manchester only a few weeks ago,” he said.
“Paris has had some problems in the last few years and I’m sure everyone will join me in sharing the fact that our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this.
“It is something which has affected large parts of Europe and all over the world. I appreciate everyone still coming out to support us and I’m grateful I can perform in front of you.”
Murray – beaten finalist last year – continued where he left off against Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday to beat the unseeded Russian with barely a scare.
The only British man to win the French Open is Fred Perry, in 1935.
Murray followed up his impressive third-round win over Juan Martin del Potro with another display that suggests he is a real contender in Paris.
His struggles with form and fitness leading into Roland Garros had left him sticking to the ‘one game at a time’ mantra, with good reason.
However, the hugely powerful Khachanov, ranked 53rd, was dismissed by another Murray performance built around his trademark defensive skills allied with some solid serving.
The gap in experience was huge, with Murray trying to reach his 29th Grand Slam quarter-final and 21-year-old Khachanov his first.
It was quickly apparent that Khachanov’s power would take some getting used to, as the Russian drew gasps from the crowd for both forehands and backhands.
Murray played the percentages beautifully, however, setting up the decisive break point of the opening set with a wonderful return and making just one unforced error in the entire set.
Khachanov would fall behind early in the second after a double-fault, an issue that dogged him throughout the match along with a poor first-serve percentage.
The first crack in the Murray game appeared just after the hour mark as two loose shots handed the break straight back, but another poor Khachanov service game made it three breaks in a row.
Murray would not relinquish this chance, easing through to a two-set lead and moving 2-0 up in the third.
There was a brief alarm when his first-serve deserted him and he was pegged back to 4-4, but again Murray hit straight back with his fifth break of the match and closed it out on serve.
Among the many impressive statistics to come out of Murray’s fourth match of the week, the fact that he won 75% of points on his second serve will be of particular satisfaction.
Sometimes a weakness of his game, the Briton defended it superbly whenever Khachanov attacked off the return.
A meagre total of 14 unforced errors offered the Russian little as Murray took another step back towards his best
“I think today was probably the best I have played overall. It was difficult conditions. It was pretty windy out there. Wasn’t easy,” said Murray.
“But each match, I feel like I played better. I have hit the ball cleaner and started to see the right shots at the right moments.
“Yeah, I’ve come a long way the last 10 days or so.”
Analysis from BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller at Roland Garros
Murray served very well in an extremely efficient win on a breezy Paris afternoon – losing only seven points on second serve in the entire match.
Khachanov did not seem at all over-awed by the occasion, and continued to hit with freedom, but Murray’s guile neutralised his power sufficiently.
The world number one is in the best shape he could have hoped for ahead of the quarter-finals.
Two consecutive straight-sets wins have conserved energy and he has as good a chance of anyone of making the final from his half of the draw.
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With twilight closing in on Roland Garros on Sunday, Novak Djokovic wasted no time securing his place in the quarter-finals.
The second seed continued his quest to retain the Coupe de Mousquetaires with a comprehensive 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-3 victory over 19th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The Serbian fired 34 winners and converted an impressive seven of 10 (70 per cent) break chances during the two-hour and 27-minute affair.
Djokovic will face sixth seed Dominic Thiem in a blockbuster battle in Tuesday’s quarter-finals. It will be his eight consecutive appearance in the last eight on the terre battue of Roland Garros. In addition, he joins Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer atop the list of most quarter-finals reached in Paris, with 11.
“The atmosphere tonight is very special because it was the last match of the day,” said Djokovic. “The crowd was really into it. They wanted to see good tennis, but also have fun and entertain themselves, so hopefully they did.
“It was really amazing couple of times both players received a standing ovation for the efforts, which was nice to see that the crowd appreciates and recognize the effort. And for us as tennis players, obviously playing in front of such crowd is always a great joy.”
Djokovic was tested early on, but swiftly flipped the switch on Sunday evening in Paris. A forehand winner saw Ramos-Vinolas snatch a break in the first game of the match. The lead would vacillated between the two competitors as the opener wore on, but Djokovic would have the last laugh in the ensuing tie-break, taking a one-set lead after 75 minutes.
As long and grueling as the opener was, Djokovic refused to be pressed in the second and third sets. The second seed dropped just four games the rest of the way, breaking five more times en route to the victory.
The longest point of the tournament came with Ramos-Vinolas serving down 2-1 in the third set. Facing break point, he would claim the 41-shot rally as both players keeled over in exhaustion. The Spaniard won that battle, but Djokovic would take the encounter, capturing his first match point on a forehand winner.
“I just didn’t start out of the blocks the way I wanted,” added Djokovic. “He started very solid, not making errors and just spinning the ball well, getting a lot of balls back. There were a lot of breaks and rebreaks in the first set. But it was very close. It could have gone either way and I’m just glad that I managed to win that tie-break, because after that, obviously I started playing with more freedom and more confidence.
“The second and third went really well. I thought especially in the second I did things very well from the back of the court. I mixed it up and didn’t give him any comfort zone on the court. I always made him guess, which was one of the keys.”
Djokovic has not dropped a set (10-0) in four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Ramos-Vinolas. He will seek his 60th match win at Roland Garros when he faces Thiem in the quarter-finals. It is a rematch of the Serbian’s ruthless 6-1, 6-0 victory in the semis of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia just two weeks ago.
Ramos-Vinolas, meanwhile, completed a strong run on the European clay, which saw him rise to a career-high World No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The Spaniard notched his first win over a World No. 1 in stunning Andy Murray at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, en route to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final (l. to Nadal).
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.