Kyrgios Cruises Through Second Round
Kyrgios Cruises Through Second Round
Aussie now looks to reach the second week at Roland Garros for the first time
No. 17 seed Nick Kyrgios rolled into the third round at Roland Garros with a convincing win over qualifier Igor Sijsling of The Netherlands 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
The Australian was nearly perfect on serve throughout the match, firing 11 aces without hitting a single double fault and not facing a break point. He was almost as dominant on return games, accumulating 13 break points and converting six of them. Kyrgios wrapped up the match with a backhand winner after one hour and 10 minutes, finishing with 35 winners and just 13 unforced errors.
“I knew it was going to be tough. He’s obviously played a lot of matches here already. I knew what my game plan was going to be,” said Kyrgios. “I’m really happy with the way I performed today. I thought I found my form from the back of the court and returned a lot better than I did in the first round.”
Kyrgios will now play No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet in an intriguing third-round match. Gasquet leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry by 4-2, but Kyrgios won their most recent meeting in February at the ATP World Tour 250 event in Marseille.
“Me and Richard have played some really memorable matches. Some of my favourite matches that I’ve played have been against him,” said Kyrgios. “We’ve played a lot of times and he’s a great guy. He’s a guy I feel comfortable around and that has always been nice to me. I’m looking forward to it.”
Eighth seed Milos Raonic had similar luck against Adrian Mannarino, sweeping the Frenchman 6-1, 7-6(0), 6-1. The Canadian broke Mannarino four times and never faced a break point. “I tried to do my best during the whole match, but he returned very well in the first and third sets,” Mannarino said. “When you server at 200 kilometers, whether on clay or hard court, it makes a difference. Raonic is a great server and he returns even better.”
The right-hander will face lucky loser Andrej Martin of Slovakia, who beat Lucas Pouille of France 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. Before Roland Garros, the 26-year-old Bratislava native had been 0-1 in Grand Slam matches (2013 US Open).