Two of the favourites to win Roland Garros triumphed in their second round matches today, although they were made to work harder than predicted. For Spanish fans Fernando Verdasco’s victory was overshadowed by the defeats suffered by Pablo Andújar and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
There were no surprises in the men’s draw today at Roland Garros, with all of the top seeds winning their matches to progress to the third round.
Roger Federer, who was the champion here in 2009, dropped his first set in this year’s competition against Adrian Ungur. After the Swiss won the first two sets with relative ease, Ungur came into the match in the third, forcing a tie-break, which he went on to win after his opponent squandered two match point opportunities. Federer took control of the tie in the final set and killed the tie off with the kind of dominance we have come to expect from him over the years, securing his place in the next round where he will face local hopeful Nicolas Mahut.
Djokovic also progressed to the next round, but was made to work harder against Blaz Kavcic than the 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 score line suggests. The world no. 99 maintained a lead for most the second set thanks to a break at the beginning, but the Serbian’s determination eventually won out. Up next the world no.1 will take on Nicolas Devilder.
Wednesday was not a good day for the Spaniards, however. While Fernando Verdasco came back from a set behind to beat Gilles Muller, and confirm his place in the London Olympics squad, Pablo Andújar and Juan Carlos Ferrero were both sent packing by seeded players, Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic respectively.
Other seeds to secure their places in the next round were former semi-finalists Tomas Berdych and Juan Martín del Potro, as well as Andreas Seppi and Kevin Anderson. Thursday will see the likes of Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer among others take to the courts for their second round encounters.
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