
ATP World No. 4 Novak Djokovic returned to Suzanne Lenglen court on Friday to close out a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 second-round victory over Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky at Roland Garros. The Serbian had won the first two sets when the match was postponed due to bad light on Thursday evening.
Fourth seed Djokovic, who lost out at the semi-final stage to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the past two years, raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third set at the match’s resumption on Friday. Stakhovsky was allowed one game as a loss in concentration cost the Serbian as he served for the match, but he quickly rectified the situation by breaking Stakhovsky’s serve for the seventh time in the clash to close out victory after two hours and four minutes in total.
"Well it's not pleasant when you don't finish a match in one day, especially at the Grand Slams when you're playing best of five (sets)," said Djokovic. "I was lucky to come back in the second set and be two sets up, so that was really important.
"Today I played really well all third set and happy to finish early so I can have more time to recover, basically, for next match."
World No. 110 Stakhovsky was featuring in the second round of a Grand Slam championship for the first time after qualifying into the main draw and defeating Argentine Brian Dabul in the first round.
The 22-year-old Djokovic is on course to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals – where he is the defending champion – largely due to strong results in the lead-up to Roland Garros. The right-hander finished runner-up to Nadal at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournaments in Monte-Carlo and Rome before capturing his inaugural home-town title in Belgrade (d. Kubot). Djokovic came his closest yet to defeating Nadal on clay this season when he held three match points in the semi-finals of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid, but ultimately was defeated by the Spaniard in a third-set tie-break. An ATP World Tour title at Dubai (d. Ferrer) and a runner-up finish at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l. to Murray) on hard courts earlier in the season have also contributed to his 39-11 match record in 2009.
Djokovic is chasing a second Grand Slam title after winning his first major at the 2008 Australian Open, with victory over first-time finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He also finished runner-up to Roger Federer at the 2007 US Open in his first Grand Slam final.
For a place in the fourth round, Djokovic will take on German No. 29 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber – who also returned Friday to complete a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 victory over 2003 Roland Garros champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. The match had been finely poised at two-sets-all when it was postponed for bad light on Thursday evening. In their one previous meeting, Djokovic defeated Kohlschreiber in straight sets at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells in 2008.
Eighth seed Fernando Verdasco was the first man to advance to the fourth round as he prevailed 6-2, 7-6(4), 7-6(8) in an all-Spanish clash with No. 31 seed Nicolas Almagro. In an edgy end to the two-hour and 47-minute encounter, Verdasco squandered five match points when he served for victory at 6-5 in the third set and was denied on a further three opportunities at 6-4 and 8-7 in the tie-break before clinching victory at the ninth time of asking when Almagro sliced a backhand wide.
The 25-year-old Verdasco has not dropped a set en route to matching his best Roland Garros performance (he also reached the fourth round in 2007-8). The left-hander achieved his best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open in January, when he lost in an epic five-set semi-final to eventual champion Nadal. The Madrid native, who broke into the Top 10 of the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings after his Australian Open success, has reached at least the quarter-finals in all eight of his tournaments this season and has compiled a 26-8 match record.
Verdasco will hope to improve on a 1-4 career record against No. 10 seed Nikolay Davydenko when he faces the Russian for a place in the quarter-finals. Davydenko survived dropping the second set to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka, the No. 17 seed from Switzerland, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 27 year old converted five of nine break points, hit 30 winners and enjoyed success on his forays into the net – winning 13 of 14 points – in the two-hour and 57-minute match.
Davydenko, the last remaining Russian in the main singles draw, reached the Roland Garros semi-finals in 2005 (l. to Puerta) and 2007 (l. to Federer). The right-hander’s start to the season was interrupted by a left heel injury that kept him sidelined for three months. On his return at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo he reached the quarter-finals (l. to Murray) and has since made semi-final appearances in Barcelona (l. to Nadal) and Estoril (l. to Blake).
World No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez booked his place in the fourth round with a tight 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory over French wild card Josselin Ouanna on Philippe Chatrier court. World No. 134 Ouanna had reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time after defeating former No. 1 Marat Safin 10-8 in the fifth set in the second round.
The 28-year-old Gonzalez is one win away from reaching the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the third time, having lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero at that stage in 2003 and to Roger Federer last year. The Chilean, who won the 1998 boys’ singles title at Roland Garros, has a 14-2 match record on clay in 2009 – winning his 11th ATP World Tour title at Vina del Mar and reaching consecutive semi-finals at Barcelona (l. to Ferrer) and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l. to Nadal).
Gonzalez goes on to meet Romanian No. 30 seed Victor Hanescu, who upset home-hope and No. 7 seed Gilles Simon. The 27-year-old Hanescu converted four of 15 break point chances, while saving all six break points he faced to wrap up the 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory in two hours and 22 minutes.
World No. 33 Hanescu improved to a 4-16 record against Top 10 players after winning three matches at one tournament for the first time this season. The right-hander reached his lone Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros four years ago, when he lost to Roger Federer.