#RG17 day two wrap: Nadal, Djokovic dominate

A Grand Slam first round often contains banana skins aplenty, and the best in the business are usually adept at negotiating their way around them. That’s exactly what happened on day two of Roland Garros.

Nadal, Djokovic off to flying starts

Rafael Nadal may have grimaced when Benoit Paire’s name was drawn alongside his own at Roland Garros. However, any threat the mercurial Frenchman might have posed was quickly shut down by the Spaniard, chasing a record tenth Roland Garros title.

In an ominous performance on Suzanne-Lenglen, Nadal dispatched the combustible Paire in under two hours, taking the win 6-1 6-4 6-1. The Frenchman managed a brief rally in the second set, leading 3-1 at one point, but Nadal battled his way back into the match and rarely looked troubled from then onwards.

“I won here nine times and every year that I won I was unbelievably happy, but every year that I come back, I am unbelievably nervous,” Nadal said after the match.

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Novak Djokovic is another man who could have enjoyed an easier draw, but in Marcel Granollers the Serb was facing an opponent he should have dominated. While the 6-3 6-4 6-2 scoreline suggests that’s exactly what he did, the reality is that the world No.2 was on court for two hours 27 minutes, and didn’t enjoy much of the match.

Djokovic, who hit almost as many unforced errors (29) as he did winners (30), looked far from his best on a hot and heavy Parisian afternoon.

“It was a bit of a rusty start,” Djokovic reflected after the match. “At a set and 4-1 up, I just played a couple of sloppish games. And in the third set when I had him on the ropes, I played very bad games on my serve.”

Elsewhere, tenth seed David Goffin made short work of Paul-Henri Mathieu, winning 6-2 6-2 6-2; Marin Cilic was similarly consistent in his win over 2014 semifinalist Ernests Gulbis, winning 6-3 6-3 6-3; and Jiri Vesely upset American Jack Sock, winning 7-5 7-5 6-3.

Finally (for the men), Alexander Zverev and Fernando Verdasco were forced to call time on their blockbuster encounter with the match finely poised at a set apiece (4-6 6-3). They will resume second on Chatrier.

Muguruza, Pliskova sidestep banana skins

With Francesca Schiavone enjoying something of renaissance over the past few weeks, there was speculation that she might cause defending champion Garbine Muguruza some bother. It was not to be, as the Spaniard eased to a comfortable 6-2 6-4 victory.

If the first set was one-sided the second was anything but, with the Spaniard shouting at herself to stay focused with the match poised at 4-4. A break gave her the opportunity to serve for it, and Muguruza was able to finish the job at the fourth attempt.

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“You need to be composed. You need to be focused. You need to be calm. Perhaps the public thinks that, okay, she won last year, but you need to avoid being contaminated with these thoughts,” Muguruza said afterwards. “I could have had anyone as an opponent today, but I need to win my own battles, my own fights.”

Another player who has ‘enjoyed’ spotty form of late is Karolina Pliskova. The Czech, who is no fan of the clay, faced a potentially tricky opponent in Saisai Zhang on the notoriously slow Suzanne Lenglen. After a tight first set Pliskova prevailed 7-5 6-2.

Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic made hard work of downing American Jennifer Brady, coming through 3-6 6-3 9-7; Caroline Wozniacki was forced to dig deep during her 6-4 3-6 6-2 win over Australian wildcard Jaimee Fourlis; and former runner-up Sam Stosur was a 7-5 6-1 winner over Kristina Kucova.