The modern day King of Clay eclipsed another mark yesterday, this time breaking the French Open men’s record for consecutive wins.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal looked his usual dominant self in the first round, beating Marcos Daniel of Brazil 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 for his 29th straight win on the red clay at Roland Garros.
The win bettered the mark held by Bjorn Borg, who won 28 straight from 1978 to 1981. Nadal also equaled the overall tournament record, matching the 29 straight that Chris Evert won between 1974 and 1975 and 1979 to 1981. Evert did not play at the French Open from 1976 to 1978.
PHOTO: EPA
Nadal was broken three times by Daniel, but the top-seeded Spaniard remained perfect on the French Open’s red clay as he tries to become the first player to win five straight titles at Roland Garros.
Dinara Safina, the top-seeded player in the women’s draw, and No. 3 Venus Williams also advanced. Safina routed Anne Keothavong of Britain 6-0, 6-0 by spraying shots to all parts of the court.
On the men’s side, 10th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, No. 23 Robin Soderling of Sweden and No. 30 Victor Hanescu of Romania all advanced.
Keothavong had a couple of chances against Safina on center court, but she wasted two break points in the third game of the first set, and led 40-0 in the fourth game of the second, but couldn’t hold on.
During the changeover for the final game, Keothavong sat in her chair with a French Open towel draped over her head. She emerged from the short break and quickly trailed 0-40, giving Safina three match points.
Keothavong saved them all, on unforced errors from Safina, and even held two game points.
Safina wasted a fourth match point by hitting long and converted the fifth with a forehand winner down the line.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, survived a sudden second-set slump to beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. She won the match’s first five games, while Mattek asked for a medical time-out during the first set so a trainer could look at her right wrist.
No. 15 Zheng Jie of China, No. 22 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and No. 29 Agnes Szavay of Hungary also advanced to the second round of the women’s tournament, but No. 23 Alisa Kleybanova of Russia was upset by Polona Hercoq of Slovenia 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
On Sunday, Andy Murray looked every inch a seasoned clay-court campaigner during a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 first-round demolition of Argentine danger-man Juan Ignacio Chela.
Two former world No. 1s who are in the twilight of their careers also slid into round two.
Lleyton Hewitt had to duck and dive for almost four hours as he saw 55 aces whizz by him, but found a way to send lofty Croat Ivo Karlovic crashing to earth in a 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
Marat Safin began his final French Open campaign before retiring at the end of the year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russian-born Frenchman Alexandre Sidorenko.
Amelie Mauresmo’s French Open dreams once again turned to dust when she was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco compounded a miserable day for the home nation by humbling Florent Serra 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 before French No. 1 Gilles Simon produced a stirring comeback to beat American Wayne Odesnik 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
■TAIWAN’S LU PULLS OUT
STAFF WRITER, WITH AP, PARIS
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun made the briefest of appearances at the French Open on Sunday before retiring from his first-round match against Mathieu Montcourt.
Lu lost the first set 6-2 before stomach problems forced him to call it a day.
His exit continues a run of premature departures from tournaments because of physical ailments. The world No. 66 pulled out of a match against Agustin Calleri at the Austrian Open two weeks ago after having retired from a match against Marco Chiudinelli with a back problem at a Challenger event in Tenerife, Spain, earlier this month.
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