Rafael Nadal is through to the French Open third round following two routine victories, and he will try to engineer more of the same against Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday. Grigor Dimitrov and Pablo Carreno Busta are also in action.
Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. (4) Rafael Nadal
Nadal’s 2016 French Open campaign ended abruptly prior to the third round, but that exit was beyond his control. Rather than losing, the nine-time champion was felled by a wrist injury that also kept him out of Wimbledon. Now, Nadal has once again produced straight-set beatdowns in each of his first two matches and will look to progress farther–much farther–in the draw than he did last year. The fourth-ranked Spaniard improved to 74-2 lifetime at Roland Garros and 19-1 on clay this season with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Benoit Paire and 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 rout of Robin Haase.
Up next for Nadal on Friday is a first-ever showdown against Basilashvili. The Georgian has already equaled his previous Grand Slam match win total in his entire career (two, both at Wimbledon in 2013) by beating Gilles Simon in four sets and Viktor Troicki in three straight tiebreakers. In his only other comparable major matchup, and only other one against anyone in the top 15, Basilashvili got blown out by Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 at the 2016 Australian Open. An improved world No. 63 should be slightly more competitive in this one, but he is also unlikely to close to stealing a set.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(20) Pablo Carreno Busta vs. (11) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov and Carreno Busta will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers at the ATP level on Friday. Carreno Busta leads the head-to-head series 2-1, avenging a 2014 Madrid loss by prevailing once in both 2015 (Paris Masters) and 2016 (Madrid). Although they have split their two previous clay-court encounters, the surface is obviously more advantageous to Carreno Busta. Five of his six career ATP finals and two of his three titles have come on the red stuff, a surface on which he has earned 19 of his 25 match victories in 2017. Carreno Busta booked his spot in the last 32 this fortnight with a straight-set blowout of Florian Mayer and a four-set win at the expense of Taro Daniel.
Although Dimitrov is not exactly a pushover on clay, he has to be satisfied already with a third-round performance at Roland Garros. After all, the 13th-ranked Bulgarian had previously been 3-6 lifetime at this tournament with three consecutive first-round exits. He brought a four-match French Open losing streak into this year’s event, a stretch that saw him go 2-12 in total sets. So far this week, however, Dimitrov has not dropped a single set or even been pushed to a tiebreaker while taking out Stephane Robert and Tommy Robredo. This time, though, he not facing opponent well past his prime. On the contrary, Carreno Busta playing the best tennis of his life and feels right at home on this particular surface.
Pick: Carreno Busta in 4
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MA to Nny over!MA to Nny over!…Wake up!wake up!…Your darling is on fire again today!!…You’re gonna missed the amazing perfomance today if you’re not wake up soon!!
this is abusive
MA,
I here! I recorded Rafa’s match! I woke up early and saw the score in the second set, so I knew Rafa was blowing him off the court! But I set my recording!
I am watching the tennis now, but will watch the whole match later. It won’t take much time!
Rafa is in the fourth round!
???
Hey Nny!!!Morning!!..Wait,wait!…here’s your coffee first!
http://www.desicomments.com/dc1/11/148434/148434.jpg
Hope you’re going to enjoy your darling’s match Nny!!…Oh!..here’s another article for u…
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/02/rafael-nadal-delighted-with-best-match-in-a-while-and-reveals-plans-to-watch-real-madrids-champions-league-final-on-his-birthday-6680251/
MA,
Thank you for the coffee!
I am so happy about my angel!
Happy happy!
??
Nny!…http://images.holidayimageparty.com/1/346752fc7bfe2d691.gif
Hehehehe…
Niko trying to rally with rafa…it’s not going to work!He should apply Fognini’s method,by going for broke…but,i guess he don’t have a confidence to do that…which is very okay to me!!!!The less rafa spent on court the better!!
Hope rafa can wrap up his match before the rain fall down..
Rafa’s level has dropped a bit… actually his opponent is hitting with a bit more penetration this set and Rafa’s been leaking more errors.
Rafa continues to win more points behind his SECOND serve as compared to his first serve!
Major improvements in this department. he is going to be at the top of the ladder in second serve pts won this year.
Is it just me or i thought Niko looks a little bit not interested or stunned?
he knows there is nothing he can do.
6-0 6-1 6-0, Rafa’s BEST scoreline ever at RG. I think he dropped 2 games to Pico in 2012 but this one 1 game.
BE SCARED EVERYONE, BE SCARED>
VR!…The signal was already sent to his opponents by this scores…
#Just.
#Wow.
There u go!!..Alhamdulillah…amazing scores,amazing match time!…wrapped up his match in 1H30’….Onto 4th round we goes!!Woohooo!!!
Three down!!! ✌ ✌ ✌ Vaaamooos Rafa!!! Fist pump!!! ? ? ?
The Time violation rule is Fed’s biggest weapon against Rafa. Rafa knows the umpires will be under pressure to impose it aggressively if the two are playing against each other, The routine is automatic. Having to consciously think of avoiding the routine disrupts Rafa’s focus and prevents him from getting into the zone. Maybe that was one of the reasons for his loss to Fed at AO.
Definitely a factor (plus just coming back from injury – takes Rafa longer to get his game fully back than balsam ballerina Federer).
I agree. The problem is of course that on paper the umpire and Fed are right. It’s the rule – whether we like it or not. And since Fed never goes over the time limit himself the umpire has very little leeway in a Fedal match.
Personally I think there definitely should be a time limit, but the 20 second rule for slams is far too short for today’s modern tennis IMO.
It’s a pity that Rafa developed all these routines, because it definitely throws him off, when he’s under pressure because of the time limit. Fed diagnosed that correctly.
Wow. Guess Rafa wanted to finish before the thunderstorms started. He’s afraid of them. But I bet it’s nothing like the fear Rafa inspired in Niko Bash today.
Maybe the thunderstorm can be named Rafa!
This was Rafa’s 100th Bo5 sets matches and he’s won 98 of them.
Vamos Rafa!
This has to be one of the best most remarkable stats ever
I meant to say Bo5 on clay.
Vamos Rafa! You are the man!
??
Very balanced opening set between Novak and Diego
Well the real challenge for Rafa begins now. I think it is RBA, then probably PCB and Nole. If he bagels Nole, like he bageled Fed in 2008, this year would be 2008-like.
How can that be the only basis of comparison?! Fed and Nole match up very different against Rafa and both have different strengths.
Anyway, I am not going to think about Rafa sweeping everyone aside like in RG 2008 . One match at a time. It will be a rout against RBA as well I believe.
If Rafa bagels his opponent in the finals, I will expect Rafa to win Wimbledon as well!!! TV rule or no TV rule.
Novak and Diego on serve now. Diego making a match of it in this first set.
5-5 Novak/Diego
Novak making some errors with both the forehand and backhand.
Poorly timed drop shot from Novak.
Nole seems nervous…
0-40 Novak.
OMG! Another terrible drop shot from Novak! That game was all nerves.
Now Diego has the chance to serve it out for the first set. Let’s see if he can do it.
Really bad game from Novak.
I think Nole is thinking of the thunderstorm ( called Rafa).
Diego to serve for the set. Horrendous game from Djokovic.
Deuce now.
nole has been killed by ramos with the time violations. it’s ridiculous.
The troll queen is back.
#shameless
Glad to see you here again Amy.
only here for a moment hawks. nice to see you. i watched rafa earlier and against haase. i thought he was unbelievable. can’t remember when he last hit the forehand so well. reminded me a bit of the match against andy at rg in 2014.
Don’t know what’s Djoko doing. He was leading the set but now dropped serve again to let Schwartzman take the lead.
I know Diego is not an easy opponent, giving Rafa plenty of problems at MC and to Cilic at Istanbul. However, Djoko would still come through I think in the end; may lose a set or even two though.
What is with the stupid drop shots?
Diego wins the first set! He held his nerve! Really poor tennis from Novak to lose that first set.
They usually work, but he has played so poorly in the 2nd half of that set. Diego was good, but hardly on fire.