Defending champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round with a comprehensive 6-2 6-1 6-4 victory over Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla.

The lightweight game of the Italian, ranked 230, posed no problem for Nadal who frequently struggled to maintain his concentration particularly early on when he dropped serve with some uncharacteristic errors when serving for the opening set at 5-1.

The world number 2 nevertheless romped to a two sets to love lead in just 58 minutes, breaking Cipolla twice in each set. The Italian was able to hit the odd drop shot winner, but generally he could not match Nadal from the back of the court.

The contest seemed to be all but over when Nadal broke at the start of the third set and then consolidated with the double break with a forehand drive which he rifled down the line for an outright winner to move ahead 3-0.

However, the plucky Italian was able to take advantage of another dip in the Nadal concentration by immediately breaking back and then holding his serve for the rest of the set to make the score line more respectable.

With a break advantage still in hand, Nadal wasted no time in clinching the match on serve to love at 5-4, with a running forehand crosscourt winner to the elation of his supporters.

Although Nadal had done enough to get through against a lowly ranked opponent, 33 unforced errors with just 9 winners is testament to the fact that the Spaniard will need to play much better particularly should he face the in-form Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.

"It was difficult for me to expect anything", the Spaniard said. "In the beginning he was a bit nervous. He would make mistakes. The third set was a bit more [competitive] but on the first two sets I couldn't see anything [from him]. The third set was nice to play for both him and for me.

"What was most positive was winning. It's not a match where I've been able to play my best tennis. It was not an exceptional match."

The Italian qualifier who has earned far less in his career ($131,171) than Nadal has so far this year ($1,933,695) was delighted to have had the experience of playing the second best player in the world on such a big stage.

"I enjoyed so much the match", Cipolla said. "It was great. It's great to be here and to play against him in this Suzanne Lenglen Stadium. Now, it does not count so much how I played, but it counts that I played there."

Cipolla successful use of the drop shot tactic stemmed from the fact that he found it tough to trade ground shots from the back against Nadal who puts so much work on the ball.

"It was tough because he was playing so heavy especially with the forehand, heavy and high. So I tried to use the drop shot a lot in the beginning with the slice. I was so nervous; playing the number 2 for the first time in the world in front of so many people, it was not easy. In the end I played a little bit better."

Andre Jones
Roland Garros
Paris

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