Paris: Rafael Nadal racked up his 80th win at the French Open yesterday as the 10-time champion defeated Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9) to reach the second round, but then blasted the showpiece Philippe Chatrier Court for being too slippery.
World number one Nadal had been two sets up but 0-3 down in the third when rain caused the tie to be suspended late Monday.
He quickly levelled at 3-3 yesterday and saved four break points in the eighth game before saving four set points. Nadal eventually claimed the match on a third match point when Bolelli dumped a forehand into the net. But he was far from happy with the clay on Chatrier, the court where he has only lost twice in his career.
“The court is more slippery than usual and I slid a lot when I started off or when I moved to another side, and it was quite complicated,” said the Spaniard.
“There are no excuses. This is what I felt. If you look at the images on television, you can see that there are many more whiter zones than other years, because there are little pebbles underneath, and that’s why you don’t have the proper grip on the court.”
The top-seeded Nadal, bidding for an 11th title in Paris and his 17th major, next faces Argentina’s Guido Pella for a place in the last 32.
With rivals such as former champion Djokovic and the dangerous Dominic Thiem in the other side of the draw along with second seed Alexander Zverev, Nadal is being widely tipped to cruise to an 11th title.
Third seed Marin Cilic reached the second round with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) win over Australia’s James Duckworth.
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov eased to a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Australian John Millman. Juan Martin del Potro recovered from a poor first set to beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
The former US Open champion, who retired injured at the Italian Open earlier this month, had said he would make a last-minute decision on his fitness at Roland Garros.
But the Argentinian fifth seed, a semi-finalist in 2009, came through his match against Mahut with relative comfort after his difficult start and broke wildcard Mahut’s serve five times.
British number one Kyle Edmund marched on with a 6-2 6-4 6-3 victory over Australian’s Alex de Minaur.
Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez equalled Roger Federer’s record for most consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played by featuring in his 65th straight major. The 36-year-old started his incredible run at Roland Garros back in 2002, with his best Slam effort three quarter-final appearances – twice at Wimbledon and once at the US Open.
His 18th successive French Open campaign didn’t last long though, losing 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to lucky loser Sergiy Stakhovsky.
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