Defending champion Rafael Nadal stormed into the fourth round at the French Open with another straight-sets win, beating Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 on Friday.
It was also the 96th victory at Roland Garros for the Spaniard, who is seeking a 20th Grand Slam title to equal Roger Federer’s record.
“We are in a very strange situation, after a lot of months without much tennis, especially for me, that I didn’t play in America, I don’t know if it’s a positive thing or a negative thing,” Nadal said when asked how important it was to keep the early-round matches short and sweet.
“But I take it as a very positive thing. I am playing quite well to win against a player like Stefano today with this score.
“It’s because I did a lot of things well. I played more aggressively than the previous days. I went to the net more often, and I hit a lot of winners,” added the 12-time French Open champion, who needed only one hour and 35 minutes to see off his opponent.
Nadal will face Sebastian Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open winner Petr Korda, in the next round. The American youngster secured his first appearance in a Grand Slam round of 16 by beating fellow qualifier Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to advance.
Former champion and No. 16 seed Stan Wawrinka was the biggest star who saw his run at this year’s Roland Garros end on Friday. The Swiss star was turfed out by French wildcard and world No. 239 Hugo Gaston 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in a five-set battle lasting over three hours.
Gaston is to challenge third seed Dominic Thiem in the fourth round. Earlier in the day, the Austrian had claimed another straight-sets victory over 28th seed Casper Ruud, beating the Norwegian 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.
“I’m very happy. It was a great match, I didn’t make any mistakes. Casper is a really great player, very attractive to play, I think there were many good rallies, it was a good match from both of us,” said the recently-crowned US Open champion.
The world No. 4, and two-time finalist at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019, reached the fourth round in Paris for the five consecutive years.
In women’s actions, top seed Simona Halep took sweet revenge on her opponent from last year’s French Open defeat, trouncing American teenager Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-1 to progress.
The 2018 champion lost to Anisimova in the quarterfinals in Paris last year, but this time the Romanian needed only 54 minutes to complete a convincing victory.
“I think I played a really good match. I was very aggressive. I knew from last year I had to change something, so I really wanted to be better than last year and definitely, I was today,” said the world No. 2.
The two-time Grand Slam winner committed just seven unforced errors throughout the one-sided encounter and broke her opponent’s serve six times.
Next up for Halep is another 19-year-old youngster, Iga Swiatek of Poland, whom Halep defeated in the round of 16 here last year.
Third seed Elina Svitolina cruised past 27th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the next round. Argentinian qualifier Nadia Podoroska extended her stunning run on clay after the restart of the season, as the 23-year-old dispatched Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-2 to become the first Argentinian women’s player to reach the fourth round in Paris since 2011.
