Title hopefuls Roger Federer and Samantha Stosur barely broke sweat as they sauntered into the third round of a sunsoaked French Open on Wednesday. World number three Federer thrashed French wildcard Maxime Teixeira 6-3 6-0 6-2 in an 84-minute morning jog as dozens of panamas bloomed in the Court Suzanne Lenglen stands.
Swiss Federer, who has not won a grand slam title since the 2010 Australian Open, misfired a few routine forehands in the opening set before he revved up the engine to flatten world number 181 Teixeira.
Federer, a 16-times grand slam champion who will next face Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, offered some words of consolation to his unheralded opponent. “It is so hard to play on a big court when you’re not used to it. I think Max did a good match.
He fought well,” the Swiss said courtside. The 22-year-old Teixeira, who had never played a match on the main Tour before this year’s French Open, said: “It’s an incredible experience. Playing against Roger is something I will never forget. I did what I could.”
Little-known Romanian Simona Halep will probably like to forget her Court One outing on a sunny Parisian morning against last year’s runner-up Stosur.
Stosur looked like she would be handing Halep the dreaded ‘double bagel’ for breakfast but in the end had to settle for a 6-0 6-2 win in 66 minutes.
NO FOOLING AROUND: On kids day at Roland Garros, the eighth-seeded Stosur was in no mood to fool around as her pace and kicked serve proved too much to handle for the world number 67, who bowed out when she mishit a crosscourt forehand.
Top seed Nadal, bidding for a sixth Roland Garros title in seven years, endured his first five-set match on the Paris clay on Tuesday when he battled back to beat American John Isner.
World number two Djokovic, who beaten Nadal four times this year including twice in claycourt finals, had no such problems in Monday’s demolition of Thiemo De Bakker.
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy is last on Centre Court against Russia’s Vesna Dolonts.
Novak Djokovic continued his challenge for a first French Open title after Romania’s Victor Hanescu pulled out of their second-round match with the Serb leading 6-4 6-1 2-3 on Wednesday.
The second seed, who next faces a heavyweight clash with former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, gained his 39th consecutive victory since the start of the year.
Hanescu put up a decent fight but was never really in the match and called it a day during a changeover after massaging his leg.
A slimline Djokovic again moved effortlessly around the court with a new gluten-free diet one of the reasons he has given for his winning streak.
