After a week of almost unbroken sunshine, an overcast gloom descended on Roland Garros. However, Andy Murray, following months of injury, illness and indecision, emerged through the clouds with his most satisfying performance in a considerable time.
Murray has not been happy with the way he has played since winning his only title of 2017 so far, in Dubai, more than three months ago. His third-round match at Roland Garros yesterday looked like being particularly tricky, but he came through it comfortably enough against a familiar opponent.
Two of the most arduous encounters imaginable with Juan Martin del Potro last year, in the Olympic final and the Davis Cup semi-final in Glasgow, distinguished the towering Argentinian as the most testing of opponents. After an elongated and high quality first set that lasted almost as long as Rafael Nadal took to win his third-round match a day earlier, Murray recaptured the sort of dominant tennis that took him to the world No 1 spot to win 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 6-0.
“In the clay-court season, for sure the second and third sets were the best I have played,” said a relieved Murray, who had struggling way through the initial stages of both his previous wins in this year’s French Open, against Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan. “It was obviously an important win for me and a big match because Juan Martin, when he’s playing well, is one of the best players in the world.
“It was a good one for me to get through, and each set I played better. I started to figure things out again during the match and made some changes, tactically. For me that’s very positive, because I wasn’t doing that for the past few tournaments.”
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From the outset there was a notable change in Murray’s demeanour. No longer was he chattering to his support crew, led by Ivan Lendl, after every error. Instead, probably out of respect for such an esteemed player as Del Potro, an opponent since their junior days, the world No 1 concentrated on the task in hand and went about his job silently.
“I was expecting a very tough match because they always are against Juan Martin,” Murray insisted. “But each day that passes I am feeling better and better, and now hopefully I can keep it going. I didn’t come here with the mindset that I’m definitely going to go a long way in the tournament. But there were things I did today, that if I can do them consistently well over the next week, then I could do really well.”
Had Del Potro converted one of the four set points he had in the first set, two of them in the crucial tie-break, things might have turned out differently. But after two set points for Murray came to nothing, the Argentinian sent a forehand fractionally wide and the match was effectively decided.
Standing at the net, demanding that the Brazilian umpire, Carlos Bernardes, make a close examination of the mark left by the ball, a disbelieving Del Potro showed his abject disappointment and a competitor as well-honed in combat as Murray knew it was imperative to drive home the momentum. “Whoever won that first set would have been in a very strong position,” Murray admitted.
Although Hawk-Eye is not employed in this clay-court Grand Slam, technology did prove that the decision in favour of Murray was correct and an immediate break of serve for the Scot was the perfect way to intensify his opponent’s displeasure.
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Although Del Potro had not played in the French Open since reaching the quarter-finals in 2012, there is enormous support for him around the world after all his agonies with a succession of wrist problems and surgeries. Chants of “Delpo, Delpo, Delpo” rang around Stade Philippe Chatrier, just as they did in the Olympic stadium and in Zagreb, scene of Argentina’s first Davis Cup triumph last December.
However, Murray was not for turning on a court that was suddenly rendered slow and heavy after playing fast throughout the preceding week. Although Del Potro negated the early break, the top seed struck back immediately and, from that moment, it seemed the Argentinian’s challenge had abated.
“I have been playing great but after that there was too much frustration,” admitted Del Potro. “In the third set, it was really hard for me, mentally. It was only a few points for Andy, but he won both the first two sets. Hopefully, next time I can be in better shape and have a better level of tennis. Then I might stay a few more days.”
Del Potro came into the match nursing a groin injury, and was a doubt for the tournament because of shoulder and back problems, but he credited Murray for turning the match around. He said: “I felt I was playing well. I could feel I was hurting him mentally. But it still was extremely complicated, because he was starting to return the balls better. He was a real No 1.
“He’s very smart on court. He has all the shots but also he’s great mentally. I know how important this tournament is for him. I wish him all the best and hopefully he can go far.”
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So Del Potro will be leaving the 16th arrondissement of Paris but Murray now has the opportunity to emulate his performance of a year ago, when he reached the final. His most foreboding opponent en route remains the former champion, Stan Wawrinka, who made quick work of Fabio Fognini, the Scot’s assailant in Rome a couple of weeks ago, with an impressive 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 6-2 win.
Murray will spend today analysing his performance with Lendl and his permanent travelling coach, Jamie Delgado. And one statistic that should come up for discussion is that, in the first round against Kuznetsov, he hit only nine forehand winners in far more conducive weather conditions. Despite the court being far more pedestrian and the clay far more cloying, Murray dispatched 24 against Del Potro and that is a number he needs to emulate repeatedly.
Murray has not concluded a match with a love set since overrunning Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round in Dubai. Before that it was Lucas Pouille at the Paris indoor tournament, across the city in Bercy, last November. And on both occasions he went on to win the title, which might have some pertinence.
Elsewhere, Marin Cilic reached the fourth round with an impressive victory over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, 6-1 6-3 6-3. The No 7 seed dropped his opening service game but then won eight straight games. Cilic took the second set when he broke Lopez to love and served out the match to win in less than two hours. “My return was working extremely well today,” said Cilic, who also served eight aces.
French feud turns into Open sore
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French fans may detect a chill in the air when two players from the host nation meet with a place in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles at stake. Alize Cornet and Caroline Garcia, who yesterday progressed to the fourth round, are barely on speaking terms because of a public feud.
Garcia, 23, fell out with her France teammates after pulling out of the Fed Cup team and ending her doubles partnership with Kristina Mladenovic. When she withdrew in April, Mladenovic, Cornet and teammate Pauline Parmentier all tweeted: ‘LOL’ within a minute of each other. Garcia responded in a newspaper interview, saying the ‘words were hurtful’.
Garcia progressed from round three with a 6-4 4-6 9-7 win against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei, who knocked out Britain’s Johanna Konta last week. Cornet, 27, produced an outstanding performance to defeat the ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, of Poland, 6-2, 6-1.
Cornet said after reaching the last 16 that relations with Garcia had virtually broken down. ‘I think that the relationship is not very good. She may have a grudge against us, so she’s not ready to talk with me, so I don’t think that it will be good to talk to her, because we are playing against each other.
“But one day I hope that she will tell me, ‘Let’s discuss’. And I’m patient. I understand that the whole story has upset her.’
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Garcia, seeded 28th at Roland Garros, said of her row with Cornet: ‘I received a text message but no apologies. She said she was still standing behind her tweets.’
She added: ‘I don’t want to prove anything to anybody. I have played tennis for a long time. I just play for myself, for my team. If people can enjoy my game, it’s good.’
France is guaranteed at least one quarter-finalist in Paris for the first time since Marion Bartoli in 2011. Mladenovic, the French number one, booked her place in the last 16 on Friday.