Understanding the French Open 2016: Week 2 preview
After a series of upsets and retirements, the French Open is now anyone’s tournament, although things are looking fairly straightforward for World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal, who is the most successful player on the surface, withdrew earlier last week with a wrist injury. Looking for his tenth title at the French Open, the Spaniard had been in fine form, defeating most of his opponents with ease as he progressed through the tournament to set up a potential semi-final clash against Djokovic.
Roger Federer also withrew from the tournament, revealing that his back injury had not yet healed completely following surgery.
That has now thrown open the tournament somewhat, with some unexpected names through to the latter stages of the Grand Slam.
Here’s what you should expect from the quarter-finals:
Andy Murray [3] vs Richard Gasquet [9]
World No. 2 Andy Murray did not have the easiest start to his French Open. Kicking off the claycourt slam with a two-day, five-set opener against Radek Stepanek, the Scot looked to be on unsure footing.
After Stepanek took control of the pair’s first round match, Murray clawed back to regain a set – following which play was called off for the day with the inclement weather at the venue.
It took the next day for Murray to be able to resume playing – and eventually defeat Stepanek. Following this, Murray was once again taken to five sets by an unexpected competitor – local talent ranked Mathias Bourgue, who is at 146th on the ATP rankings.
Murray has regained his momentum somewhat, defeating big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic and American John Isner in straight sets, and with a clay court Masters title in his kitty going into the French Open will also be upbeat about his own prospects.
World No. 12 Gasquet, meanwhile, has had an easier passage through the initial stages of the slam, beating Thomaz Bellucci (who bageled Novak Djokovic in the clay court season), Bjorn Fratangelo and Nick Kyrgios each in straight sets.
The Frenchman upset 5th- ranked Kei Nishikori, who had himself looked to be in a position to do well at the French Open, with the Japanese player only able to take a set off his rival.
Nishikori had already beat Gasquet twice, in straight sets, earlier this claycourt season, once each at the Madrid Masters and the Italian Open or the Rome Masters.
Behind initially in that match, Gasquet fought back to win 10 games as Nishikori struggled to save break points.
It is Gasquet’s first ever French Open quarter-final in 13 tries at the Slam – and not the pair’s first meeting at Roland Garros.
The two have met twice before on the clay courts here, and it has been Murray who has come out on top each time, but Gasquet has managed to take a set off the Scot each time.
Their head-to-head currently stands at 7-3 in favour of Murray; the pair have met on clay on four occasions, with Murray winning three. Given those statistics, and the fact that Murray has won each of the last 5 matches the two have played, he will not be too perturbed by Gasquet.
Could we see an upset? Unlikely, but this may not be the cakewalk many are expecting for Murray.