Paris, France (Sports Network) - Rafael Nadal continued his quest for a third
straight French Open title with another straight-set win Saturday, while
fellow top seeds Andy Murray and David Ferrer also moved on to the second week
with comfortable third-round wins.
Nadal is gunning for a seventh title overall at Roland Garros and on Saturday
advanced with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina's Eduardo Schwank. The
second-seeded Spaniard has yet to be seriously tested, as he dropped just five
games in the first round and four in the second before Saturday's methodical
triumph.
Next up for the 10-time Grand Slam champ will be another Argentine in Juan
Monaco, who pulled out a grueling 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 slugfest
against Canadian Milos Raonic. The 13th-seeded Monaco has never been past the
fourth round in a major and will have his hands full trying to do so next week
against Nadal, who owns a 3-1 record in the lifetime series with all three
wins coming on clay.
The fourth-seeded Murray cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Colombia's
Santiago Giraldo, while the sixth-seeded Ferrer powered past Russian Mikhail
Youzhny in a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 rout.
Things got so bad for Youzhny at one point, he used his shoe to inscribe the
word sorry -- spelling it SORRI -- in the red clay behind the baseline as an
apology to the fans.
Murray, who has continued to win despite a bad back, will next face a tough
test in Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The 17th seed struggled early before taking
command in a 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory over German veteran Tommy Haas.
"My objective was not just to make it to the second week," noted Gasquet, who
is just 1-10 lifetime in fourth-round matches at Grand Slam events. "I know I
can do better. So I'll have to play a great match against Murray."
Ferrer, meanwhile, will meet Spaniard Marcel Granollers, who outlasted
Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-1. Mathieu, coming off a
nearly six-hour marathon in the second round against John Isner, appeared to
finally run out of gas in the fifth on Saturday after battling all the way
back from an 0-2 deficit.
Also Saturday, eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic topped Frenchman Julien
Benneteau, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, and will next face 12th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas
Almagro, who rolled to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Argentina's Leonardo
Mayer.
Fourth-round play opens Sunday with four matches.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic will meet Italy's Andreas Seppi, while third-seeded
Roger Federer will take on lucky loser David Goffin of Belgium. French fifth
seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will square off against Switzerland's Stanislas
Wawrinka and seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych will battle former U.S. Open champ
Juan Martin del Potro.
The Sports Network