Sportmaster International

Paris - Two-time champion Rafael Nadal polished his record at the French Open to a 16-0 career sheen as he blasted into the third round over Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday. World number two Nadal was untouchable against the 227th-ranked qualifier making his Grand Slam debut. Nadal is on course for a seeded final against Roger Federer, with much ground to cover over the next week if that dream match-up is to become reality. The Spanish ace has shrugged off Federer’s title victory in their recent Hamburg final, which ended 6-0

in the third set for the Swiss. ‘The most positive thing about today’s match was winning,’ said the second seed. ‘It was not a match where I was able to play my best tennis. ‘I’m playing better and better every day, and I’ll fight every day a bit more.’ Shortly after Nadal concluded, the skies opened as more rain moved in to shut down play at Roland Garros. Left stranded at mid-match were Amelie Mauresmo and Svetlana. Noted battler Lleyton Hewitt rallied from two sets to love down for the fourth time in his career to stun 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Hewitt, a former number one whose game is coming together again, is on the opposite career track of Argentine Gaudio, whose form has slid badly since his highlight Roland Garros title three years ago. The 28-year-old 72nd-ranked Argentine has had a misery season with reports of retirement also being considered. But after the match he said: ‘I believe you will still be seeing me around in the future.’ The 14th-seeded Hewitt may have hastened retirement with his fight-back second-round victory in three hours, 28 minutes. In his prime, Gaudio beat Hewitt in the 2004 quarter-finals on the way to the title. ‘He was too good a few years ago when I lost to him here,’ said the Australian. ‘It’s good to get a win against him. ‘He’s got to be one of the toughest second-round players to play. Plus at the moment you just don’t know really what you’re going to get from him, as well. ‘I got better as the match went on, I changed up things a little bit. Once I got that fourth set under my belt, I felt pretty confident going into the fifth.’ Sixth seed Novak Djokovic had to overcome a bout of negativity before knocking out the lowest-ranked player remaining in the draw, reaching the third round 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 over Laurent Recourderc. ‘I’m not so happy with my two performances here,’ said Djokovic. ‘But the positive thing is that I’ve won two matches, two rounds. ‘It was not easy, I’m favourite even in the next match (against Olivier Patience of France). So I’ll try to do my best and start playing better.’ Croatian seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic dismissed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 with the Swiss coming back after more than three months away after knee surgery. In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova overcame her feeling of playing like ‘a cow on ice’ on clay to advance over American number 73 Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-1. The Russian who owns Wimbledon and US Open trophies said that her form on the surface is not particularly natural. ‘I don’t play on clay for the other 10 months of the year. It’s not as natural for me, just because I don’t play that much on it.’ Sharapova missed nearly two months healing a shoulder injury which required a pain-killing injection. The Serbian momentum was boosted by seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Sania Mirza of India 6-1, 6-4. Eighth seed and former winner Serena Williams got over a rough patch to hold off Milagros Sequera 6-0, 7-6 (7-3). The American swept the first set but went down two breaks early in the second before pulling through in a tiebreaker. ‘It was weird, I didn’t feel like I played my best tennis throughout the whole match. I was struggling out there to get the rhythm,’ said the winner. Swiss 14th seed Patty Schnyder moved through to the third round over Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 6-3, 6-2. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur