By Chris Oddo | Wednesday May 25, 2016
Stan Wawrinka made short work of Taro Daniel to reach the third round in Paris and extend his winning streak to six matches.
Photo credit: Roland Garros
He arrived late to the city of lights, but defending champion Stan Wawrinka is present and accounted for at Roland Garros now. The Swiss rolled past Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel with ease on Wednesday, 7-6(7) 6-3 6-4. Make it nine matches in a row on the terre battue for Wawrinka, who will battle Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the third round.
More: Muguruza Turns Page, Rolls into Third Round in Paris
Though the tournament started with a difficult five-setter for Wawrinka, just two days after he had won the title in Geneva, the No. 3 seed says he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
“It pleased me,” said Wawrinka. “It made me really happy to see that I could get through a tough match. [Rosol] was playing really well, really aggressive. It wasn’t easy conditions. It was a tough match I didn’t play the best but I got through, and that’s the most important win. When you don’t play your best tennis, you play against someone who is playing really good, and at the end you get the win it’s really important. It’s positive for the rest of the tournament.”
Wawrinka gave proof of that today, winning in three sets and cracking 62 winners while earning 17 break points against Daniel.
“It’s showing today,” said Wawrinka. “Today I was a little bit better. I won in three sets and I’m still here.”
Thanks to a title run in Geneva, the first title he’s ever achieved on home soil, Wawrinka was not “here” in Paris until late Saturday night. It was a tight turnaround for the Swiss but he says that part of him is thankful that he didn’t have to spend the weekend around Roland Garros taking questions about his title defense.
“Of course the fact that I arrive really late, it’s helped me a lot because my brain wasn’t in French Open, it was still in Geneva. And I won the title, so it’s always good.”
Kyrgios Thrashes Through
Aussie Nick Kyrgios walloped Igor Sijsling, 6-3 6-2 6-1 in 70 minutes to match his best Roland Garros performance to date. Kyrgios will face Richard Gasquet in the third round. The Frenchman cruised past Bjorn Fratangelo, 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-3. Kyrgios and Gasquet have met six times with the Frenchman holding the 4-2 edge.
Kyrgios saved nine match points to defeat Gasquet at Wimbledon in 2014 and went on to reach the quarterfinals. But he lost the next three to Gasquet after that, finally beating him again at Marseille this season.
Karlovic Beats Back Time
Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man to reach the 3rd round at a Grand Slam since Connors, aged 39 years 6 days, at the 1991 US Open when he defeated Australia’s Jordan Thompson, 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(3) 6-7(4) 12-10. The 37-year-old will face either Andy Murray or Mathias Borgue in round three.