Nadal on record form

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:31

The Spaniard won 6-1 6-4 6-2 on Suzanne Lenglen court to set an all-time record of 30 straight triumphs at Roland Garros, surpassing Chris Evert’s run of 29 which came in the women’s singles between 1974-81.

The 22-year-old Mallorcan was again far from his best, just as in his first-round win over Marcos Daniel on Monday, but he stayed consistent and had far too much in his locker for his gritty Russian opponent.

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, who comfortably defeated Andrey Golubev in three sets, will be Nadal’s next opponent.

Earlier, Frenchman Fabrice Santoro bid an emotional farewell to Roland Garros following his first-round loss to Christophe Rochus. The popular 36-year-old, playing his 20th and last French Open, could not turn around a match that had to be carried over from Tuesday night after bad light stopped play with the Belgian leading 6-3 6-1 3-6 5-3.

Janko Tipsarevic, who will meet Andy Murray next, was one of the players to upset a seed, the Serbian knocking out Feliciano Lopez, the 28th seed, with a four-set victory.

Another was France’s Arnaud Clement, who beat 21st seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-1.

Fernando Verdasco will meet fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in what should be an intriguing third-round tie after they both won on Wednesday. Eighth seed Verdasco thrashed Philipp Petzschner 6-1 6-2 6-3 while Almagro, the 31st seed and a real danger on clay, needed four sets to overcome Ernests Gulbis 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 6-2.

Seventh seed Gilles Simon made round three with a 7-5 6-0 6-1 win over Robert Kendrick, and Fernando Gonzalez (12), Marin Cilic (13), Stanislas Wawrinka (17) and Victor Hanescu (30) were other seeds to progress in straight sets.

David Ferrer, the 14th seed, beat Nicolas Kiefer in five sets.

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