Sharapova stumbles, but continues

Nadal dominant and comfortable

Associated Press

PARIS

On days like these, when so little goes right and so much goes awry, Maria Sharapova tosses away the strategies and scouting reports her coach devises and, well, does whatever it takes to win.

Locked in a three-set, 3-hour struggle at a wet and windy French Open on Monday, Sharapova’s right, racket-swinging wrist was aching — and that, she insisted, was the least of her problems.

There was the tumble to her backside that Sharapova could laugh about later. The exasperating line calls, and what the second-seeded Russian considered an obstinate chair umpire. The 12 double-faults, plus 41 other errors of Sharapova’s own doing. The nine breaks she allowed, including three while serving for the match. The unseeded foe who wouldn’t go away.

“It was,” Sharapova summed up, “a good test for me.”

Certainly the first she’s faced at Roland Garros this year. After dropping a total of five games in three matches that averaged less than an hour each, Sharapova moved into the quarterfinals at the only Grand Slam tournament she hasn’t won by dispensing with tactics and swinging away until she finally pulled out a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory over 44th-ranked Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.

“I’m useless with game plans. That’s probably the one thing (coach Thomas Hogstedt) just gets so frustrated with me about,” Sharapova said. “I go out there and I do my own thing, and then he’s like, after the match, ‘Really? What’s the point? I mean, what’s the point of having me?’ But I apologized when I hired him, in advance, so he’s OK.”

Sharapova and Hogstedt both said her wrist, which she repeatedly flexed during the match and fiddled with at her news conference afterward, shouldn’t be an issue going forward.

Rafael Nadal’s pursuit of a record seventh French Open title rolled on with another rout, this one a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 victory over his pal, Juan Monaco of Argentina, who’s not exactly a slouch — he was seeded 13th and has won five clay-court titles.

But Nadal is 49-1 for his career at the French Open and might be better than ever. He’s lost a total of 19 games so far, the fewest through four completed matches at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas’ 16 games in 1982.

“I feel really comfortable, really at ease,” Nadal said. “When the tournament is over, I’ll tell you if this was my best Roland Garros or not. For the time being, I’m still playing. So far, so good. But we’ll see. Things could change.”

He’ll take a 7-0 head-to-head record into an all-Spanish quarterfinal against No. 12 Nicolas Almagro, who beat No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.