David Ferrer squeaks past Marcel Granollers to enter quarters – French Open 2012
In an all-Spanish affair, David Ferrer toppled Marcel Granollers with a bagel at the Roland Garros 2012 on Monday. He formulated a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 victory against his compatriot to secure a place in the final eight at this second of the four Grand Slam event
taking place from 22nd May to 10th June in Paris.
Seeded sixth in the tournament, Ferrer got the better of his fellow citizen for the fourth straight time. After pocketing the match in one hour and 51 minutes, the higher ranked Spaniard not only extended his lead in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) Head 2 Head series by 4-0 against Granollers but also set up a date with the world number four Andy Murray.
"I don't know if [it's] my best tennis, it is difficult to say that," admitted the higher seed. "But, of course, I am playing very well this tournament. I try do my best in every match. I [have] worked hard to come back into [the] Top 10."
Ferrer assertively entered the Court Philippe Chatrier and held his opening serve to take the initial lead. He then continued hammering powerful forehands and plucked his remaining serves with poise. The winning Spaniard got the breakthrough in the sixth
game and clinched the opener with a 6-3 score line.
Ranked sixth in the South African ATP World Tour Rankings, Ferrer kept momentum rolling into the proceeding set and earned the coveted break in the opening game to jump to a 2-0 lead. He then cashed in another break chance in the fifth game leaped to a 5-1
lead. The delighted Spaniard held his serve once more and clicked the set by winning six games to two.
The 30-year-old’s skills were fully polished in the third set. He blasted powerful groundstrokes to reel off all six games in a row, eventually sealing the set with a bagel.
All in all, Ferrer manifested a slightly better first serve share of 71 per cent as opposed to his compatriot’s 70 per cent and brilliantly marked 40 out of 50 points on it. He committed 22 unforced errors but hammered 41 winners to rule the match.
"David is a solid player, he doesn't make many mistakes," Granollers praised the sixth seed. "His returns are really good. He's got all the shots, in fact. I'm really happy to have reached the round of 16. David played better than me today."
The Spanish veteran will square-off against the British number one, Murray, who bounced back to triumph over the local seed, Richard Gasquet, to set up this battle.
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