ROLAND GARROS 2006
PARIS, FRANCE
June 4, 2006
Nalbandian is Paris Dangerman
Top seed Roger Federer is now three victories away from becoming just the
third man in history to win four consecutive Grand Slam titles after
brushing aside Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hr. 47 mins. to reach the
Roland Garros quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
Today’s victory marked Federer’s 25th consecutive Grand Slam match win,
tying him for second place (w/Sampras, Connors) on the Open Era list behind
Laver with 29 in 1969-70.
Berdych, who defeated Federer at the 2004 Olympics, led 3-1 in the third set
before Federer rallied to win the last five games of the match.
Federer, 24, is attempting to reach his eighth consecutive Grand Slam
semifinal and win his sixth major title from his past eight Grand Slam
appearances. Federer reached the Roland Garros semifinals for the first time
last year, losing to Rafael Nadal. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds remain on track
to meet in this year’s final.
Only Don Budge and Rod Laver (twice) have held all four Grand Slam titles at
the same time. Both men completed the Grand Slam – tennis’s holy grail of
winning all four majors in the same calendar year – Budge in 1938 and Laver
in 1962 and ’69. Three other men have won all four Grand Slam titles during
their careers – Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson and Fred Perry – but they did not
win four consecutive Grand Slam titles as Federer now has the chance to do.
Federer next meets in-form Croatian 12th seed Mario Ancic, who upset seventh
seed Tommy Robredo 7-5 in the fifth set.
Federer holds a 2-1 career edge over Ancic, winning their two most recent
meetings in 2005 in Miami and Rotterdam on hard court. Ancic claimed his
only win over Federer in the first round of Wimbledon in 2002. That result
was a surprise because it followed Federer’s quarterfinal appearance in 2001
(when he defeated four-time reigning champion Pete Sampras) and preceded the
Swiss’s first Wimbledon title run in 2003.
Third seed David Nalbandian defeated fellow Argentine Martin Vassallo
Arguello 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals for the second time in
three years. Nalbandian, who reached the semifinals in 2004, clipped 47
winners to 28 and broke his countryman six times.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko is now one win away from a second consecutive
Roland Garros semifinal appearance after defeating 2004 champion Gaston
Gaudio 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Federer: “I already felt much more comfortable going into this match today.
I felt very calm when I was warming up. When I started serve, right away I
hit an ace. I already had a good feeling about today. I think that’s just by
being here for so long now, playing some good matches early on. I feel like
I’m really into the tournament.
“So I believe from here on, my form is only going to get better. Yeah, I’m
obviously looking forward. As usual now, it really gets interesting.”