Birthday Boy Nadal Survives Scare

Rafael Nadal's 20th birthday couldn't have been harder. The defending French Open champion needed four hours 53-minutes to advance over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (32) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 at Court Chatrier Saturday- stretching his clay court win streak to 56.

"I'm satisfied with my tennis," Nadal pointed out to reporters afterwards. "I think probably this was not the best match of my life, but it was a very good match. But you have to keep in mind that nothing is ever easy, particularly when you're playing a player who is playing so well. I knew this was going to be a very difficult match. I knew that anything could happen. This is an important victory for me."

The 24-year-old Mathieu played splendid tennis from the very outset, testing Nadal's mettle in a lengthy 93-minute opening set which got the home supporters behind him. He finished the match with 60 winners to Nadal's 54 but he also had 65 unforced errors to only 39 for Nadal.

"The end of the first set was good. I had good shots. He always played well at the beginning of this set. It was very intense. It was difficult to hold the rhythm physically and mentally," Mathieu said.

"It's difficult to keep the same level and the same rhythm for nearly five hours. I think I played well, but I have played better."

In a seesaw battle, each player took turns coming up with great shots during extended rallies. With neither able to hold serve consistently, it made for some exciting stuff. Mathieu rallied from a break down and captured the set when a Nadal forehand missed just wide, giving fans thoughts of a possible upset.

But the second seeded Spaniard battled back to level the match a set apiece. In position to serve for the third set at 5-4 15-all, Nadal mysteriously ran to his seat and tossed a banana peel at the chair umpire. Almost to the point of choking, the panicked champ stopped play to see a trainer before closing out the set.

"I don't know what happened, but it suddenly stayed stuck halfway through," expressed Nadal. "At 15 love, I started being a little bit frightened. But I didn't want to stop in the middle of the game. I didn't think it would look very good."

"I lost the next point. I was paying more attention to my throat than to tennis. It was an important game, so I started being nervous. It's not that I couldn't breathe, but I did feel a very strange sensation. I thought, I've got to stop because I don't want anything serious to happen. Never mind if I don't look good."

After finally going up by a set, Nadal put the clamps down on his fiesty opponent to setup a Round of 16 match-up against 14th seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt eliminated 22nd seeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2.

"We've had tough matches every time we've played on hard court," said Hewitt. "But, he's an extremely tough player right at the moment, especially on this surface, as everyone's well aware of. So it's a matter of me going out there and sticking to what I want to do out there."

In other third round men's action, Novak Djokovic knocked off Tommy Haas (23) 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (4). He'll await the winner between eighth seeded American James Blake and 19-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils (25). After dropping the opening set 2-6, Blake fought from a break down to take the second set 7-6 (2) before play was suspended. The match will continue Sunday.

Fourth seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic will also have to wait another day before trying to advance against Argentine Juan Monaco. Ljubicic cameback from two sets down to lead Monaco 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 4-2. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo awaits the winner after upsetting fellow Spaniard David Ferrer (15) 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-4.

Also setting up a Round of 16 match-up were Julien Benneteau and Alberto Martin. A round after upsetting Aussie runner up Marcos Baghdatis, the Frenchman ousted Radek Stepanek (11) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8), 6-3. He'll play Martin for a spot in the quarterfinals. The first round upset winner over Andy Roddick continued his run by coming back to beat Olivier Rochus (27) 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4.

In Round 3 action Friday, top seeded Roger Federer withstood a late challenge from Chilean Nicolas Massu (32), posting a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory. Federer will take on 20-year-old Czech Tomas Berdych next. The 20th seed led Nicolas Kiefer (13) 6-1 before the German retired.

Mario Ancic (12) and Tommy Robredo (7) each won in straight sets to setup an intriguing Round of 16 match. Ancic eliminated Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 while Robredo was a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Lukas Dlouhy.

David Nalbandian (3) and Martin Vassallo Arquello both advanced to a fourth round encounter by winning in five sets. Nalbandian fought back from two sets down to eliminate Dmitry Tursunov (31) 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Arquello was a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 winner over Raemon Sluiter.

In a battle of ex-French Open winners, Gaston Gaudio (10) defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero (24) 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7). He'll next play sixth seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Carlos Moya 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.

The Round of 16 gets underway later today featuring Federer-Berdych, Robredo-Ancic, Davydenko-Gaudio and Nalbandian-Arquello.


Women's Round of 16 Set: Fourteen of the 16 top women's seeds remain with the Round of 16 set for Sunday at Roland Garros.

That includes five-time slam winner Martina Hingis (12) and '05 U.S. Open champ Kim Clijsters (2). Each won for the second consecutive day to reach the fourth round. Hingis easily defeated Ivana Lisjak 6-1, 6-1 while Clijsters ousted Anabel Medina Garrigues (26) 6-3, 6-4.

Clijsters will next play 15th seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova later today. Hantuchova outlasted Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy (21) 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. The match took 2 hours 35-minutes to complete including a 76-minute final set before Hantuchova prevailed.

Meanwhile, Hingis takes on Israeli Shahar Peer (31), who upended sixth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 7-5. If Hingis and Clijsters win their matches, they would meet in the quarters.

Also advancing to a fourth round match-up were Gisela Dulko and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Dulko (32) ended American Shenay Perry's tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 victory while Groenefeld (13) stopped Russian Maria Kirilenko (20) 6-2, 7-6 (2).

A battle between the last two women's French Open winners will take place in Round 4 when defending champ Justine Henin-Hardenne takes on '04 champ Anastasia Myskina. The fifth seeded Henin-Hardenne defeated Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-0 while the 10th seeded Myskina didn't drop serve in a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ana Ivanovic (19).

Third round winners Friday included top seeded Amelie Mauresmo and Nicole Vaidisova (16). The two will square off in the Round of 16 later today. Mauresmo defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-3 while Vaidisova needed three sets to eliminate Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-0.

American Venus Williams (11) setup a fourth round match-up against Patty Schnyder by posting a 7-5, 6-3 win over Croatian Karolina Sprem. Schnyder cameback from a set down to beat Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Maria Sharapova (4) will take on countrywoman Dinara Safina (14) in the Round of 16 after each were straight set winners. Sharapova ousted Australian Alicia Molik 6-0, 7-5 while Safina eliminated Slovakian Katarina Srebotnik (24) 6-3, 6-4.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (8) also will meet Francesca Schiavone (9) later today for a spot in the quarters. Kuznetsova defeated China's Na Li 6-3, 7-6 (4) while Schiavone cameback to beat Flavia Pennetta (17) 4-6, 6-1, 9-7.