Roland-Garros Day 5 men’s recap: Djokovic, Federer, Nadal through, Monfils, Karatsev out
Your guide to the biggest stories from the men’s side at 2021 Roland-Garros as the second round continues in Paris on Thursday 3rd June
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- Notable names winning on Thursday at Roland-Garros (2nd round): Novak Djokovic (1), Rafael Nadal (3), Roger Federer (8), Matteo Berrettini (9), Diego Schwartzman (10), Jannik Sinner (18), Lorenzo Musetti, Cameron Norrie, Carlos Alcaraz
- Notable names losing on Thursday (2nd round): Gael Monfils (14), Alex de Minaur (21), Aslan Karatsev (24), Nikoloz Basilashvili (28), Taylor Fritz (30)
- To read about Wednesday men’s coverage including wins by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Kei Nishikori, you can click here
- To follow our full coverage of the 2021 French Open, please visit this page.
- To follow live results, to see the men’s draw and women’s draw, we recommend you follow the official Roland Garros website
- You can also check out the Tennis Majors team’s breakdown of the men’s and women’s draw
- Tomorrow’s programme at Roland-Garros will be updated here (and by the way, today’s schedule is here).
- All the practical information – how to watch the tournament, how to buy tickets and everything else you could possibly need to know – are hopefully in this page.
DJOKOVIC THROUGH IN STRAIGHT SETS
Novak Djokovic was the first of the Big 3 to progress on Thursday as he beat Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
“I’m playing well,” said the world No 1, who previously eased past Tennys Sandgren in round one. “Feeling great. I’m ready to go deep in this tournament. Hopefully that’s gonna be the case, but I’ll take it match by match. So far the two matches that I have played have been played on a high quality.”
FEDERER ALSO INTO THIRD ROUND
Djokovic is joined in the third round by Roger Federer, who defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Federer fired 47 winners — including 16 aces — compared to only 27 unforced errors. He will go up against Dominik Koepfer on Saturday.
“(It was a) very good match for me, I thought,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion commented. “A bit of up-and-downs in the second and third sets…. I was able to attain a solid level once he did break back in the third set and things were looking dangerous for me. I was able to step up a gear, stay with him, and then pull away from him. I think that gives me a lot of confidence.”
NADAL MAKES IT BIG 3 PERFECTION
The Big 3 went 3-for-3 on Thursday, as Nadal capped of the night by winning the night-session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier, 6-0, 7-5, 6-2 over Richard Gasquet.
“I think I played an amazing first set; a great one,” the Spaniard said. “I don’t feel like Richard was playing that bad to have that score. The second was a little bit different. I had a set point at 5-2 and then I didn’t play a good game with my serve. Happy to have won that second set 7-5. After that I was a little bit more under control I think.”
Nadal will meet Cameron Norrie on Saturday as the Spaniard continues his bid for a 14th French Open title.
BRILLIANT BERRETTINI AND SCHWARTZMAN
Matteo Berrettini was the first man to progress on Thursday, beating Federico Coria 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
He spoke afterwards of his confidence going into the match.
“I knew that I could beat him. I played him twice. I know which kind of player he is. I step in knowing that, yeah, that I could hurt him in tennis-wise. I was serving well, playing aggressive. Everything was working pretty fine.”
It was also a straight-set win for 10th seed Diego Schwartzman, who beat Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
ALCARAZ MAKES SOME HISTORY
18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz sprinted past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Alcaraz is the youngest man to reach the third round of the French Open since 1992 and the youngest man to reach this stage of any major since Rafael Nadal at the 2004 Australian Open.
“Today the positive emotions [were] really, really important because Nikoloz is a really, really good tennis player,” the Spaniard explained. “He has a lot of great skills. He hits the ball really, really hard and if you don’t focus — if you are not focused — it’s hard to play against him. You have to be focused all the time.
“Even in the tough moments, you have to be focused and positive. That’s the good way.”
YOUNG ITALIANS ON TOP
In an all-Italian second-round clash, 18th seed Jannik Sinner beat Gianluca Mager 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Italy’s much-tipped youngster Lorenzo Musetti beat Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
And they were joined in the third round by Marco Cecchinato, who overcame Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
MONFILS OUT
Mikael Ymer became the first Swedish man in the third round in a decade as he beat 14th seed Gael Monfils 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Richard Gasquet is the last French player in the draw.
Monfils said : “I made a lot of unforced errors unfortunately today, and here and there that help him just enough to, yeah, to take the win today. I think he didn’t do much than just, you know, put the ball in and be aggressive, few shot in there and then just be solid. That’s how it is.”
KARATSEV AND FRITZ CRASH OUT
Aslan Karatsev – seeded 24th and one of the year’s most in-form players – lost to veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German won 6-3, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1.
Taylor Fritz, seeded 30th, lost to Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Fritz was taken off the court in a wheelchair after appearing to sustain a knee injury on the last point of the match.
OTHER RESULTS
- Britain’s only remaining singles player, Cameron Norrie, defeated Lloyd Harris of South Africa 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
- Soonwoo Kwon beat Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
- Jan-Lennard Struff, who ousted No 8 Andrey Rublev in the first round, overpowered Facundo Bagnis 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-4
