Twenty-ninth seed Juan Martin del Potro wasted four set points in the opening set, effectively losing his confidence and then the game to world number one Andy Murray at the French Open. Murray, who lost in the last year’s final to Novak Djokovic, won 7-6 (10/8), 7-5, 6-0 to reach the pre-quarter-finals.
“Whoever won that first set would have the momentum as it would have been very difficult to come back in these heavy, slow conditions. He was playing much better than me in the first set. He had chances in the first set, he double faulted on set point,” said Murray of his rival.
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“Andy proved he is a real No.1. He is one of the smartest guys on the circuit,” said Del Potro, who was playing in Paris for the first time in five years due to wrist injuries. “I’m so happy to see the crowd cheering for me at this level. I just try to be myself all the time. I think all the people like my story. I have been out for a long time. I'm trying to fix my wrist problem, and I never give up from that problem.”
Murray of Great Britain will face the winner of the match between John Isner of the United States or Russian Karen Khachanov, next.
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Third seed Stanislas Wawrinka, on the other hand, did just the opposite of Del Potro -- saving four set points in the opener before beating Italy's Fabio Fognini. Wawrinka won 7-6 (7/2), 6-0, 6-2 to enter the pre-quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Marin Cilic, a former US Open champion, defeated an ailing Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
In the women’s section, in a match between two former French Open girls’ singles champions, third seed Simona Halep of Romania continued her glorious run by routing 26th seed Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 in an hour and 18 minutes to enter the final 16.
“I played really well the whole match. I felt that I was pushing her back, and also I was rolling the ball pretty well. It was a very high standard of tennis. Even if I won the first set 6-0, I knew the second one was going to be tougher. She's always a very tough opponent. I'm really happy with the way I played today,” Halep said.
In a nice feat for hosts France, three of its women have made it to the last 16 for the first time in 23 years.
On the Indian front, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Purav Raja, Divij Sharan, Abhimanyu Vannemreddy, and Zeel Desai will all be seen in action on Sunday.
