Argentine duo Leonardo Mayer and Carlos Berlocq had to sweat in their French Open first round clashes, but the pair finally prevailed in two five-set marathons to book their places in the next phase of Roland Garros.
After a tough three hours and 55 minutes game, Corrientes native Mayer beat Czech Jiri Vesely by 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 5-7 and 6-2 in his Roland Garros debut, making it to the next round where he will face Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz.
Berlocq also had to dig deep to come back for victory over Illya Marchenko, the world No. 127 from Ukraine. The 32-year-old went two sets down early on, but battled on to eventually prevail 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, in 4 hours y 8 minutes of play. His prize in the second round will be another tough match-up, against 20th seed and local favourite Richard Gasquet.
Meanwhile, Spain’s Rafael Nadal received a decent workout from French teenager Quentin Halys as he began his quest for a 10th French Open title with a 6-3 6-3 6-4 first-round win today.
Nadal, seeded sixth after a mediocre start to the season, was never threatened by the 18-year-old wild card on Court Philippe Chatrier although the junior US Open runner-up did not appear too overawed.
The nine-time champion, who now has an awe-inspiring 67-1 record at Roland Garros, next faces either compatriot Nicolas Almagro or Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Nadal was broken once but having made only 13 unforced errors, the world number seven wrapped up victory on his first match point when Halys netted a backhand.
Tournament favourite Novak Djokovic, like Nadal, waited two days for his opening round match but quickly found his stride with a 6-2 7-5 6-2 defeat of Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen.
The Serb, who’s winning march now extends to 23 matches, came within a point of a 5-1 deficit in the second set but extricated himself from a spot of bother and clinched victory with trademark precision.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald