Roger Federer avoided any more security scares as he moved smoothly into the third round of the French Open yesterday but danger still lurks in the bottom half of the draw, namely in the shape of Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
While second seed Federer was beating Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-2 7-6 6-3 on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Nishikori was given centre stage on Court Phillipe Chatrier and produced further evidence as to why he is being tipped as a potential champion.
The 25-year-old fifth seed was handed a tough test by left-handed Brazilian claycourt specialist Thomaz Bellucci but passed it with flying colours, winning 7-5 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round for only the second time.
Bellucci is one of the in-form players on clay this year and arrived in Paris full of confidence after winning the Geneva title last week, but Nishikori proved too strong in a high-quality contest played in warm sunshine.
There were considerably more people in the stands for Nishikori’s match than there were for the opening match on the main showcourt in which women’s defending champion Maria Sharapova powered past fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 6-3 6-1 to set up a juicy third-round clash with Australian Samantha Stosur.
Stosur, the 2010 runner-up and twice a semi-finalist, came within a game of serving up a “double bagel” over French wildcard Amandine Hesse but had to be content with 6-0 6-1.
Later, lightning struck twice for Romanian Simona Halep, last year’s runner-up, as she was knocked out in a second round shock 7-5 6-1 by Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
The third seed, who had also been the unlikely victim of the same Croatian surprise packet in the third round of last year’s US Open, found history repeating itself as she crumbled after losing a tight first set.
There was no repeat of Sunday’s scare when a fan ran on to court for a selfie with 17-times grand slam champion Federer, the only trouble the Swiss encountering was a 4-2 second-set deficit which he quickly fixed.
While the 33-year-old conserved some energy, Nishikori had to be at full-throttle throughout the two hours 22 minutes he required to subdue Bellucci.
He saved a break point at 2-3 in the opening set and then struck decisively at 5-5, nailing a forehand winner at the end of a 22-stroke baseline rally for a decisive break.
Nishikori was broken twice, at 5-2 in the second and third sets, but neither proved too damaging as he moved through to a third round clash with Germany’s Benjamin Becker who beat Spanish 32nd seed Fernando Verdasco in a five-set cliffhanger.
Federer, who could face Nishikori in the semi-final, will play Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur in round three after he beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-2.
Eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka also made progress despite dropping a set against Dusan Lajovic as did respective French no.1 Gilles Simon and Alize Cornet.
Twelfth seed Simon led the home charge, beating Martin Klizan 7-5 6-2 6-3 while Cornet beat Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2 7-5.
Other result: Berdych bt Stepanek 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-3.