Novak Djokovic

FOURTH seed Novak Djokovic outclassed Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in a straight sets victory at Roland Garros to book his place in the third round.

The match was stopped at 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday night due to bad light but Djokovic – who lost to Rafael Nadal in the final of the warm-up tournament in Madrid – made light work of the final set, winning 6-1.The Serbian raced into a 5-0 lead before Stakhovsky restored some pride late on – breaking Djokovic to make it 5-1.

But he was broken back as Djokovic – who has reached the semi-final in his last two appearances at the French Open – sealed the win in no mood to hang around. Djokovic has enjoyed a fantastic start to the clay-court season, having captured the Serbian Open earlier this month, and shows no signs of slowing as he faces Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. Meanwhile, Fernando Verdasco booked his place in the fourth round after beating fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 (10-8).

Almagro played some fantastic tennis but it was punctuated by poor shot selection at critical times – handing Verdasco a break to make it 6-5 in the third set. But he fought back to force the set into a tie-break before eighth seed Verdasco – who hasn’t dropped a set in his first three matches – sealed victory with his ninth match point.

Verdasco has reached the quarter-finals of all eight tournaments he has entered in 2009, including an epic 5hr 14mins semi-final loss against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open – the longest match in the history of the tournament. Due on Court Philippe Chartrier later today is defending champion Nadal, who faces former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, while Andy Murray bids to reach the fourth round in Paris for the first time in his career.
source: http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk