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| Wawrinka launched a superb comeback to see off Gasquet |
Roland Garros 2013 Day 9: Wawrinka fightback floors Gasquet
Men’s Singles
World No.1 Novak Djokovic dropped his first set of the fortnight as a superb 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber took the opening set from the top seed before the four-time Australian Open champion hit back to win in four. The pair had in the third round in Paris four years ago and on that occasion it was the Gerrman came through in straight sets.
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| Nadal celebrated his Birthday on court |
Reigning champion Rafael Nadal enjoyed his most comfortable match so far in Paris as on his 27th birthday the third seeded Spaniard came through 6-4 6-1 6-3 against 13th seed Kai Nishikori.
The former World No.1 extends his amazing record at Roland Garros to 56-1.
Tommy Haas reached his first French Open quarter final at the age of 35 with a 6-1 6-1 6-3 demolition of Mikhail Youzhny.
The Russian obliterated a racket in frustration and the German eased through to complete his set of major quarter finals and become the oldest player to reach the last eight of a slam since Andre Agassi at the 2005 US Open.
Women’s Singles
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| Sharapova maintained her strong form in the French Capital |
Maria Sharapova continued the defence of her title with a 6-4 6-3 win over 17th seed Sloane Stephens.
The Russian lost her serve once but broke the young American four times. Sharapova reached her first major quarter final in Paris nine years ago.
Azarenka appeared to have her hands full early on against former champion Francesca Schiavone as the Italian twice broke back to reach 3-3 in the first set.
From there an impressive Azarenka reeled off nine straight games to equal her career best performance at Roland Garros.
In the last eight the two-time Australian Open winner will take on 12th seed Maria Kirilenko who reached her second major quarter final with a 7-5 6-4 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Russian looks sets to break into the top 10 for the first set following the tournament.
Former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic snapped up the final quarter final berth with a 6-0 6-2 demolition of Jamie Hampton. The 28 year-old Serb is into her first Grand Slam quarter final for three years and will bid to reach her fourth semi-final when she takes on Sharapova.
Match of the Day: Gasquet (7) vs Wawrinka (9)
The match of the day proved to be the best looking match on paper with World No.9 Richard Gasquet and World No.10 Stanislas Wawrinka facing off for the first time since 2006 with both players looking to reach a first Roland Garros quarter final.
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| Gasquet looked to be on course for a first French quarter final |
In a battle between two of the game’s most beautiful one handed backhands Gasquet edged a tight opening set and broke in the second to take a two set lead and a strangehold of the match.
The Swiss ninth seed saved a break point at 2-2 in the third and had treatment on his back but started his comeback with a break of the Gasquet serve in the 10th game to reduce the defecit to two sets to one. After being 5 points from defeat at 4-4.
The fourth set was another close one and saw Wawrinka miss break points in the eighth game but the Beijing Olympic Doubles Gold Medallist broke in the twelfth game to force a decider.
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| At the ninth attempt the Swiss reaches his first quarter final |
Gasquet was by now struggling physically but forced two break points at 5-5 in the decider. Wawrinka nervelessley saved both and finished the match with a break in game 14 by slamming a forehand winner down the line after 4 hours and 15 minutes.
The two players struck 149 clean winners between them in a superb display of shotmaking.
The Swiss No.2 played incredible tennis against Djokovic in Melbourne and it is wonderful to see that he has built on that performance and regained his place in the top 10 with a title in Portugal and final in Madrid and now first quarter final in Paris.
He will have to play even better than he did in Australia if he’s to push Nadal hard in the last eight. That would be quite a sight.
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