Defending champion Rafael Nadal stormed into
the French Open quarter-finals on Monday as three Spaniards plus Andy Murray
made it through to the last eight in the bottom half of the draw.
Nadal demolished Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-2 6-0 6-0 in an awesome
display of claycourt tennis that must have sent shivers through his rivals for
the title here.
Countrymen David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro had earlier gone through
comfortably.
Sixth-seeded Ferrer cruised past countryman Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-2
6-0 and 12th seed Almagro pushed aside Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4 6-4
6-4.
Murray then joined them with a disjointed 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 win over
Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
The Scot will play Ferrer, while Nadal will go for his 50th win at Roland
Garros against Almagro.
Joining them in the last eight, in matches held over from Sunday in the
opposing top half of the draw, were Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan
Martin del Potro of Argentina.
Tsonga, seeking to provide a first French win in the men’s singles since
Yannick Noah in 1983, returned to action against Stanislas Wawrinka of
Switzerland 4-2 ahead in the fifth set.
And despite dropping his serve in the opening game, he held steady to pull
off a 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 3-6 6-4 win that saw him into the quarter-finals at
Roland Garros for the first time.
Next up will be a meeting with top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who has
history-making on his mind too as he bids to become the first man in 43 years
to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.
Del Potro was two sets to one up against Tomas Berdych of the Czech
Republic when darkness fell on their fourth round tie late Sunday and he wasted
little time on their return Monday to complete a 7-6 (8-6) 1-6 6-3 7-5 win.
His reward will be another crack at third seed Roger Federer, against whom
he lost a thrilling five-setter in the 2009 semi-finals.
Second seed Nadal won 17 games in succession to destroy Monaco and
afterwards said he had to feel sorry for his close friend for suffering such a
heavy defeat.
Fourth seed Murray looked all at sea for a set and a half before his fourth
round clash with Gasquet turned dramatically late in the second set as the Scot
found his touch and Gasquet totally lost his.
The win means that Murray has reached a Grand Slam quarter-final for the
sixth straight time, with Ferrer, who he has never beaten on clay, waiting for
him as his opponent.
For Gasquet there was the disappointment of failing to join countryman
Tsonga in the last eight. The last time two Frenchman made the quarter-finals
at Roland Garros was in 1990.
