Roddick wins in four sets, Murray through in four too on Day 5 in Paris

In fading light at Roland Garros, on a rain-soaked Thursday, fourth seed American Andy Roddick reached the third round for the third time in nine appearances.

The sixth seed hit 13 aces and 67 winners to battle past Blaz Kavcic, a Slovenian qualifier, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in just under three hours. Kavcic became the first Slovenian male to break into the Top 100 of the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings in March this year.

Moments before Roddick’s win, World No. 92 Fabio Fognini completed a remarkable 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 comeback victory over French No. 13 seed Gael Monfils.

Resuming play at 5-5 in the deciding set, after Monfils had saved three match points at 4-5 in fading light on Wednesday night, Fognini wrapped up the 86-minute fifth set.

Another winner from a match carried over from Wednesday night was fourth seed Andy Murray, who overcame 30-year-old Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 in three hours and 30 minutes. The match resumed play at 3-3 in the second set this afternoon. Murray hit 75 winners overall, converting seven of 16 break point opportunities.

John Isner joined Roddick in the third round for the first time, after the American No. 17 seed hit 38 aces and 83 winners past Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland in a 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 7-6(7), 6-4 victory over three hours and 11 minutes.

Isner, the RICOH ATP MatchFacts ace leader this year, has now hit 30 or more aces on nine occasions in his career. The most he hit was 39 aces when he lost to Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty at the 2009 Australian Open.

Cypriot No. 25 seed Marcos Baghdatis and Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili also beat the rain showers.


Thursday, 27 May 2010

Play eventually got underway at 3:30 p.m. local time Thursday and matches were suspended on three occasions. Many matches have been rescheduled on Friday.

Singles - Second Round
[4] A Murray (GBR) d J Chela (ARG) 62 67(5) 63 62
[6] A Roddick (USA) d B Kavcic (SLO) 63 57 64 62
F Fognini (ITA) d [13] G Monfils (FRA) 26 46 75 64 97
[14] I Ljubicic (CRO) level with M Fish (USA) 62 67(8) - bad light suspends play
[17] J Isner (USA) d M Chuidinelli (SUI) 67(3) 76(3) 76(7) 64
P Andujar (ESP) level with [24] T Bellucci (BRA) 61 36 - bad light suspends play
[25] M Baghdatis (CYP) d M Granollers (ESP) 46 61 75 62
T Gabashvili (RUS) d G Zemlja (SLO) 63 61 61