French Open Archives

Nadal through to French Open final as Zverev retires due to injury

PARIS: The Spaniard Rafael Nadal has qualified for his 14th French Open final in a dramatic way as his German opponent Alexander Zverev retired hurt after sustaining a serious ankle injury.

An epic semi-final clash between the World No.5 Nadal and the third seed Zverev, was cut short 7-6(8), 6-6 as the latter has to retire after rolling his ankle while moving to his right, tracking down a Nadal forehand deep behind the baseline.

The German had to leave the court in a wheelchair, which resulted in Nadal reaching his 14th final of the Grand Slam. The Spaniard is now just one win away from lifting a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam trophy.

In a hard-fought clash, Nadal rallied from a break down and forced the set into a tie-breaker before going on to claim the first set after displaying great determination and skills in a mammoth one hour and 31 minutes.

The Spaniard, again showed his class in the second set, rallying from 3-5 to force what would have been another tie-break. Zverev’s injury, however, caused an early end of the match – which was on course for being the best match of the season.

Zverev’s heartbreak in the all-important semi-final has also halted his chances of rising to No.1 in the ATP Rankings by winning his first grand slam.

Nadal, on the other hand, will face either Casper Ruud or Marin Cilic in the French Open final and a victory in the final will result in the Spaniard becoming the oldest champion by eclipsing Andres Gimeno.

READ: Mitchell, Blundell eye centuries, defy wickets’ spree at Lord’s Test

Swiatek breezes past Kasatkina, storms into the French Open final

PARIS: The top seed Iga Swiatek carried on her unbeaten run as she defeated her Russian counterpart Daria Kasatkina in just 64 minutes to reach her second French Open final, here on Thursday.

Swiatek, who is in sublime form has equalled Serena William’s record of second-most consecutive wins this century, who won 34 consecutive matches between Miami and Wimbledon in 2013.

In the semi-final, Swiatek breathed fire as she complete dominated her opponent throughout the match as she defeated Kasatkina by 6-2, 6-1.

The one-sided affair embarked with an evenly poised four games as Swiatek pulled ahead taking her fourth break point to move up 2-0, but Kasatkina responded quickly as she dodged the former with smart wrong-footing to level at 2-2.

The Polish then again pulled ahead and never looked back as she went on to claim the first set after completely dominating the next four games.

Swiatek, fuelled with momentum, kick-started the second set with the same pace as she moved 1-0 up by claiming the first game.

Kasatkina, on the other hand, made a timely comeback to level the scores at 1-1 only for Swiatek to further level her ante up and claim the victory by winning five consecutive games.

The 21-years-old Swiatek will now take on the United States of America (USA)’s Coco Gauff in the final of the French Open.

The victory over Gauff in the final would bolster Swiatek to equal Venus Williams’ 21st-century record of 35 straight wins, set in 2000.

READ: Sidra leads the way with century as Pakistan set Sri Lanka a target of 254

Ruud battles past Rune to reach his first French Open semi-final

PARIS: Norwegian tennis-star Casper Ruud carried on his historic run to reach Grand Slam semi-final for the first time as he thrashed Danish player Holger Rune in the french open quarter final game.

Ruud, who became the first Norwegian to reach the quarter-finals of a grand slam further carried on his historic run as he came out on top 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in a four-set clash to book his place in the final four.

The Norwegian got off to a sublime start as he completely dominated the opponent to wrap up the first set by 6-1.

Rune, on the other hand, quickly bounced back in the second set and got a breakthrough at 5-4 up, and further carried his lead to level the match.

The two players then got involved in a tight third set which went right down to the wire before being eventually decided in a tie-breaker. Ruud dug deep to eek out a mini-break to go 4-2 up over his Danish opponent.

The Norwegian did not look back after going within a set to seal a semi-finals spot and comprehensively clinched the victory after claiming the fourth set by 6-3.

The 23-year-old Norwegian will now face Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the second semi-final as he targets the first Grand Slam title of his career.

READ: Argentina blunt Italy 3-0 to lift the Finalissima title

Ruud blunts Hurkacz, makes history for Norway at French Open

PARIS: The eighth seed Casper Ruud downed Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round of the ongoing French Open by 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to become the first Norwegian to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Norway’s Ruud, who made history by qualifying for the French Open quarter-finals overcame a brief fightback from his opponent and managed to achieve one of the goals, he set for himself.

The Norwegian started off brilliantly as he pulled ahead 3-1 in the first set as Hurkacz double-faulted. He gave no chance to his Polish opponent, making just two errors before sealing the first set.

The eighth seed, fuelled with momentum, continued his brilliance as he also sealed the second set after an easy affair by 6-3.

The Polish then roared back in the third set as he found his rhythm and pushed Ruud back to 4-2 before holding throughout to cut the lead.

Hurkacz also started the fourth set with determination as he stole Ruud’s serve to go up, only for the latter to fight back and level at 2-2 with a crosscourt shot.

Hurkacz made yet another forehand error as Ruud broke for a 4-2 lead. At 5-2, the Pole escaped a match point, but Ruud won the second with a crosscourt forehand winner.

READ: Arslan Ash lifts the Combo Breaker 2022 title for Tekken 7

French Open: Medvedev thumps Kecmanovic, storms into the fourth round

PARIS: The second-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev secured a resounding 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 over the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic to book his spot in the fourth round of the ongoing French Open.

Medvedev, who seemed to be struggling with his strikes and was not at his sparkling best, eased past the Serb with a straight-sets victory to make his way into the next round.

The Russian blunted the in-form Kecmanovic with a straight-forward victory as he dropped only eight games in total in the progress.

The second seed kept the youngster on the back foot as he dominated the majority of the match with his accurate drop shots and strong net coverage.

After failing in the first four main draw matches in the French Open between 2017 and 2020. The Russian has found his luck this time around as he is just a victory away from reaching a second consecutive quarter-final.

He will lock horns with the winner of the third-round match between Croatia’s Marin Cilic or Frances Gilles Simon, in an attempt to make it to the final eight of the tournament.

READ: Ahsan Iqbal presides meeting to review youth and sports initiative

Tsitsipas edge pasts Kolar in the second round of the French Open

PARIS: Greek Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas had to dig deep once again to clinch the victory in the ongoing French Open as Zdenek Kolar kept the former involved in another slugfest.

The fourth-ranked tennis player Tsitsipas held his nerves calm to blunt the 134th-ranked Kolar by 6-3, 7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7) just past the four hours mark.

The youngster showed great determination and grit as he tested the resilience of his better-ranked opponent but missed out on the fourth set to force a fifth as Tsitsipas levelled the last tiebreaker at 6-6 before closing out the match.

The Greek started off strongly as he claimed the first set in just 35 minutes. Kolar, on the other hand, responded quickly and took a 4-1 lead only for Tsitsipas to level his ante up and force a tiebreaker. The former, in the end, managed to claim the second set after a long tiebreaker.

Kolar, however, kept himself in the hunt as he showed character to cut the lead to 2-1 as he forced the fourth set after claiming the tiebreaker in the third 7-6(3).

The fourth set of the match followed the same pattern as both remain indulged in another see-saw battle but Tsitsipas clinched the victory by claiming a second tiebreaker overall.

Tsitsipas will now lock horns with the 95th-ranked Mikael Ymer of Sweden for a place in the fourth round of the tournament.

READ: Sri Lanka dethrone Pakistan from the fourth position in WTC points table

Tsitsipas roars back to thump Musetti in the first round of the French Open

PARIS: The Greek Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas engineered his third comeback from two sets down to edge past his Italian opponent Lorenzo Musetti in the first round of the ongoing French Open on Tuesday.

The fourth-seeded Greek started well but had to dig deep in the end for a 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Musetti.

The finalist of the recently concluded Italian Open produced another exceptional comeback in the opening round of the French Open. The Greek has previously made two exceptional comebacks against Jaume Munar in September 2020 and against the Spaniard Rafael Nadal at the 2021 Australian Open.

For the second time at the French Open, Musetti, 20, had a tournament favourite on the verge of elimination. In the fourth round of the 2021 tournament, he won two tie-breaks to take control of the match against then-champion Novak Djokovic, but he lost the momentum late in the match.

Musetti, on this occasion, gave Tsitsipas more scare by recovering from an early break in the fourth set, but he never got close to a knockout punch.

With this victory, Tsitsipas advances to face Czech qualifier Zdenek Kolar, who defeated France’s Lucas Pouille 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 earlier on Tuesday.

READ: Port Qasim announces to restore the sports department

Federer withdraws from French Open with Wimbledon in mind

Paris: Former world number one Roger Federer, who is targeting a record 21st Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, withdrew from the French Open on Sunday, a day after winning a tough third-round match, opting to save himself for the grass-court season.
“After discussions with my team, I decided that I should withdraw from the French Open today,” Federer said in a statement released by the French Tennis Federation.
“After two knee operations and more than a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and not rush back into competition,” the 39-year-old Swiss added.
Federer, who has hardly played in the last 17 months because of a knee injury, suffered physically in his four-set, late-night victory over German Dominik Koepfer and decided to end his Roland Garros campaign ahead of what would have been a punishing fourth-round match against Italian Matteo Berrettini.
He had said after his weekend match that he was pondering whether to participate in the second week of the claycourt Grand Slam as his season goal was Wimbledon, the grass-court major starting in three weeks.
“We go through these matches… we analyse them highly and look on what’s next and we’ll do the same tonight and tomorrow,” he said.
“Because I need to decide if I keep on playing or not, or is it not too much risk at this moment to keep pushing or is this just a perfect way to just take a rest.”
Tournament director Guy Forget said: “The French Open is sorry to see Roger Federer withdraw from the tournament, but he put up a great fight last night.
“We were all delighted to see him back in Paris, where he played three top-level matches. We wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander said Federer’s decision made sense as the eight-time Wimbledon champion had more chance to succeed on grass.
“It proves that it’s a long-term project for him to come back. For me, that’s good news because it shows he’s going to be around for a bit longer,” Wilander, a tennis expert for Eurosport, said.
“Obviously, he got the matches that he needed and he wanted. The main period for him over the years is the grass-court season – he enjoys all the Grand Slams and different surfaces but the grass comes so naturally to him and that’s where he has had the most success.
“So, yes, obviously perfect for him. I think it’s absolutely perfect preparation.”

Aisam’s journey in French Open ends with a defeat

PARIS: Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach eliminated from French Open after they lost their match in the second round of Men’s double.
The duo lost 7-5 and 6-1 against 7th seed Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. Earlier, Aisam and his partner won their match in the first round against the duo of Santiago González and Marcelo Demoliner.

READ: Aisam, his partner face defeat in Parma Challenger doubles final

Djokovic saunters into French Open round two

Paris: World number one Novak Djokovic kicked off his French Open campaign with a routine 6-2 6-4 6-2 win against American Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday in the first men’s match to be scheduled in a night session.

With no spectators allowed on Philippe Chatrier court due to a 9pm local curfew, the Serbian went through the gears as he dispatched his opponent seemingly effortlessly.

Djokovic, who is chasing a 19th major title and looking to narrow the gap to 20-time Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, showed some signs of frustration in the second set but world number 66 Sandgren was never close to bothering him.

The third set was a mere formality as Djokovic, who won his only Roland Garros title in 2016, won five games in a row in what resembled a training session.

He next faces Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas on his way to a potential semi-final showdown with 13-time French Open champion Nadal.

While he appreciated playing the first men’s night session at Roland Garros, Djokovic said he would have preferred to play in front of crowds like he did last week in Belgrade, where he won the title.

“I’m honoured to be the first men’s match to play a Roland Garros night session. It was very interesting to say the least, I liked the conditions and the way I played, the way I moved, the way I felt, it worked out pretty well,” he told a courtside interviewer.

“Tennys played some good tennis. He challenged my serve, in the second set he had six break points. But it was awfully quiet, with crowds it would have been the perfect scenario, perfect setting, but hopefully this is the last match without a crowd for me in this tournament.”

One night session a day is scheduled until June 9, but only the last one is set to be played in front of fans with the French government pushing back the curfew until 11pm next Wednesday.

Tag: French Open