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Defending champion Rafael Nadal looked in ominous form as he stepped up his pursuit of Roger Federer’s 20 major titles with a crushing win over 236th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald.
The Spaniard batted aside McDonald, 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, in exactly 100 minutes on Wednesday, September 30, and will meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori or Stefano Travaglia of Italy for a spot in the last 16.
“The aim was to play as well as possible. I’m very happy. I have another difficult match next,” said Nadal.
The 34-year-old needs one more major to pull level with longtime rival Federer and owns an astonishing 95-2 record in Paris going back to his triumph on debut in 2005.
Top seed and women’s favorite Simona Halep goes up against compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu as she targets a second French Open crown in 3 years.
Bertens wins stormy Errani tussle
US Open champion Dominic Thiem swept into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory over American qualifier Jack Sock, saving 3 set points to close out the match.
The Austrian 3rd seed will play Norway’s Casper Ruud, seeded 28th, or American Tommy Paul for a place in the last 16.
“I’m very happy with my game in the first two rounds. It was not an easy draw at all and I’m very happy not to drop a set,” said Thiem, who defeated 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic in round one.
Dutch 5th seed Kiki Bertens had to be taken off court in a wheelchair after a fiery win over former finalist Sara Errani.
Bertens triumphed 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 9-7 in a 3-hour 11-minute clash which left her in cramps and Italian Errani screaming an obscenity as she left the court.
“After one hour, she’s injured but then she’s running around like never before,” said Errani.
“She leaves the court in a chair and now she’s in the locker room and eating in the restaurant, perfect. She exaggerated.”
“It made me very angry, so well done to her but she can win without doing that.”
Bertens is due to meet Katerina Siniakova next while Elina Svitolina overcame Mexican qualifier Renata Zarazua, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
The Ukrainian 3rd seed is coming off a title at Strasbourg last week and will next play Russian 27th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, but was briefly taken aback by a sonic boom.
The thunderous noise that panicked residents of Paris was caused by a French fighter jet that broke the sound barrier.
“I was a bit worried because I thought something bad happened,” said Svitolina.
The military said the plane had been scrambled to go to the aid of another aircraft that had lost radio contact, and was authorized to travel at supersonic speed.
Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open winner, followed up his demolition of Andy Murray with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat of Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.
Sebastian Korda, the son of 1992 Roland Garros runner-up and 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, also progressed after a four-sets victory over fellow American John Isner. – Rappler.com
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