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Yinette PerezFrench Open ~ Nadal, Hewitt, Monfils and Djokovic
June 6th 2006 05:24
Defending champion Rafael Nadal claimed his first career win over former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt to charge into the Roland Garros quarterfinals. The 20-year-old Spaniard improved his perfect record at Roland Garros to 11-0 and extended his Open Era record clay court winning streak to 57 matches. His career record on clay is 97-12.
Hewitt (now 3-1) is one of only five players with a winning head-to-head record against Nadal. But before today the pair last played at the Australian Open in January 2005, when Nadal had just one tournament victory to his name and was ranked No. 47 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings. Hewitt was ranked No. 2.
But much has changed since then and Nadal went into today's fourth-round match as an overwhelming favorite. Hewitt provided stiff resistance and leveled the match at one set all before Nadal elevated his game in the final two sets to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard, who also dropped one set against Paul-Henri Mathieu in the third round, next meets Serbian Novak Djokovic, a 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-3 winner over fellow teenager Gael Monfils, the 25th-seeded Frenchman.
Nadal is attempting to become the first man to defend his Roland Garros title since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001. Nadal missed 2004 Roland Garros because of a stress fracture in his left ankle; he missed the 2003 event because of an elbow injury.
Hewitt is one of only five players to have a superior head-to-head record against Nadal (other than those who have won their only meeting), along with Dominik Hrbaty (3-1), Fernando Gonzalez (2-1), James Blake (2-0) and Alex Corretja (2-0).
Djokovic, the 19-year-old from Belgrade, is ranked a career-high 63 in the INDESIT ATP Ranking. He has dropped sets in just one match en route to the quarterfinals - against ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez in the second round, when he won 6-1 in the fifth set.
Djokovic last year was the youngest player at 18 years and five months to finish inside the Top 100 following an 11-11 season, which included third-round appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Last year at Roland Garros he qualified and claimed his first Grand Slam match win over Robby Ginepri and took the first set from Guillermo Coria in the second round before retiring with breathing difficulties.
Djokovic is the first player from Serbia & Montenegro to reach the round of 16 at Roland Garros in the Open Era.
Djokovic had been less impressive on clay in 2006 before arriving in Paris. He won just one match in three previous clay tournaments played this season, falling in the first round at Masters Series Monte Carlo and Barcelona and the second round of Masters Series Hamburg.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Nadal: "I always think about I will have a difficult match. I think that before the match, of course. So I have some difficult moments, and I can win [like] before.
"Today I play the best match, especially... I feel the ball my best feelings today in the tournament, sure, and especially first set maybe I play very good, no?
After, I have the control of the match in the second set, too. I have 4-3 with break. But in that game, I was playing very bad. I serve very bad, and I finished the second set bad because I was serving bad.
"And he, he's very competitive. So if you have some mistakes, some misses, so he going to be hundred percent."
Hewitt: "At the start of the match, he came out smoking it and hitting a lot of heavy balls out there. I didn't get an opportunity to try and dictate. When I got my half chance in the second set, I had to take it, and I was able to do that. I started serving really well, better than I've been doing all tournament. Late in the third set and then the whole fourth set, my serve did go off, my first serve, more than anything. Yeah, that just made it a lot harder to put pressure on him.
"He's very much like I guess Federer, winning so many matches, that it's sort of second nature for him. They get down break point and they expect to get out of it. That's why he's one of the best players in the world...His movement on clay is exceptional. It's second to none, that I've seen. He makes you play so many more balls, normally you'd have winners.
"When I look back on it in a couple days, there's going to be a lot of positives I'm sure I can take out of the last week and a bit here... I went out there, gave everything I had. Felt like ball striking-wise, I'm a lot more confident going into Queen's than I was probably coming into the French Open."
Djokovic: "I think just it's hard to describe the feeling I had today when I won. It's my first quarterfinals on one of the four biggest tournaments in tennis. For sure I'm feeling very happy and satisfied.
"But I have to say that it was really difficult to play 'cause from the first moment we enter the court, I felt the crowd was really going crazy for Gaël. I knew before the match that I have to deal with it because it's gonna be full stadium cheering for him and giving him the great support. It was like that during all the match."
Monfils: "Mentally, I didn't manage to find what I had over the past three matches.
"Even when I lost the second set, I was trying to get back in the match. I broke his serve actually. After that I didn't manage it very well. With that break in hand, I think I should have become more aggressive in my game, even if I was feeling half dead."
* article copyright to www.atptennis.com. all rights reserved.*
Hewitt (now 3-1) is one of only five players with a winning head-to-head record against Nadal. But before today the pair last played at the Australian Open in January 2005, when Nadal had just one tournament victory to his name and was ranked No. 47 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings. Hewitt was ranked No. 2.
But much has changed since then and Nadal went into today's fourth-round match as an overwhelming favorite. Hewitt provided stiff resistance and leveled the match at one set all before Nadal elevated his game in the final two sets to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard, who also dropped one set against Paul-Henri Mathieu in the third round, next meets Serbian Novak Djokovic, a 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-3 winner over fellow teenager Gael Monfils, the 25th-seeded Frenchman.
Nadal is attempting to become the first man to defend his Roland Garros title since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001. Nadal missed 2004 Roland Garros because of a stress fracture in his left ankle; he missed the 2003 event because of an elbow injury.
Hewitt is one of only five players to have a superior head-to-head record against Nadal (other than those who have won their only meeting), along with Dominik Hrbaty (3-1), Fernando Gonzalez (2-1), James Blake (2-0) and Alex Corretja (2-0).
Djokovic, the 19-year-old from Belgrade, is ranked a career-high 63 in the INDESIT ATP Ranking. He has dropped sets in just one match en route to the quarterfinals - against ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez in the second round, when he won 6-1 in the fifth set.
Djokovic last year was the youngest player at 18 years and five months to finish inside the Top 100 following an 11-11 season, which included third-round appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Last year at Roland Garros he qualified and claimed his first Grand Slam match win over Robby Ginepri and took the first set from Guillermo Coria in the second round before retiring with breathing difficulties.
Djokovic is the first player from Serbia & Montenegro to reach the round of 16 at Roland Garros in the Open Era.
Djokovic had been less impressive on clay in 2006 before arriving in Paris. He won just one match in three previous clay tournaments played this season, falling in the first round at Masters Series Monte Carlo and Barcelona and the second round of Masters Series Hamburg.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Nadal: "I always think about I will have a difficult match. I think that before the match, of course. So I have some difficult moments, and I can win [like] before.
"Today I play the best match, especially... I feel the ball my best feelings today in the tournament, sure, and especially first set maybe I play very good, no?
After, I have the control of the match in the second set, too. I have 4-3 with break. But in that game, I was playing very bad. I serve very bad, and I finished the second set bad because I was serving bad.
"And he, he's very competitive. So if you have some mistakes, some misses, so he going to be hundred percent."
Hewitt: "At the start of the match, he came out smoking it and hitting a lot of heavy balls out there. I didn't get an opportunity to try and dictate. When I got my half chance in the second set, I had to take it, and I was able to do that. I started serving really well, better than I've been doing all tournament. Late in the third set and then the whole fourth set, my serve did go off, my first serve, more than anything. Yeah, that just made it a lot harder to put pressure on him.
"He's very much like I guess Federer, winning so many matches, that it's sort of second nature for him. They get down break point and they expect to get out of it. That's why he's one of the best players in the world...His movement on clay is exceptional. It's second to none, that I've seen. He makes you play so many more balls, normally you'd have winners.
"When I look back on it in a couple days, there's going to be a lot of positives I'm sure I can take out of the last week and a bit here... I went out there, gave everything I had. Felt like ball striking-wise, I'm a lot more confident going into Queen's than I was probably coming into the French Open."
Djokovic: "I think just it's hard to describe the feeling I had today when I won. It's my first quarterfinals on one of the four biggest tournaments in tennis. For sure I'm feeling very happy and satisfied.
"But I have to say that it was really difficult to play 'cause from the first moment we enter the court, I felt the crowd was really going crazy for Gaël. I knew before the match that I have to deal with it because it's gonna be full stadium cheering for him and giving him the great support. It was like that during all the match."
Monfils: "Mentally, I didn't manage to find what I had over the past three matches.
"Even when I lost the second set, I was trying to get back in the match. I broke his serve actually. After that I didn't manage it very well. With that break in hand, I think I should have become more aggressive in my game, even if I was feeling half dead."
* article copyright to www.atptennis.com. all rights reserved.*
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