Rafa Nadal passed his French Open second-round test with flying colors on Thursday, showing flashes of his intimidating best in a 6-2 6-2 6-3 win over talented Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem. The eight-times champion from Spain applauded his 20-year-old opponent after being tested on court Philippe Chatrier more than the scoreline suggested. "His ball is so high he was able to hit strong he has completely everything to become a champion," said the world No.1, who for the first time arrived at Roland Garros having lost three matches on his favored clay this season. "I think today I played a solid match, I knew that if I didn't I would be in trouble." He briefly was in the third set when Thiem, who stunned world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the second round of the Madrid Masters this month, broke and held serve to open a 3-1 lead. His booming inside-out forehands briefly put Nadal in trouble as the Spaniard eyeballed his opponent. But Nadal won the remaining games, ending the contest on his second match point when the Austrian sent a forehand long. Nadal, who next faces Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili or Argentine Leonardo Mayer, is on a quarter-final collision course with last year's runner-up and compatriot David Ferrer. Fifth seed Ferrer, one of three men to beat Nadal on clay this season, wasted little time in demolishing Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2 6-3 6-2. "I am ready for the next round and was very happy with my performance, especially with my consistency," he said. "My season on clay has been good (when asked about beating Nadal on clay this season). I have a good feel but I'm focusing on the moment." Blazing Through In the absence of the Williams sisters, 15th seed Sloane Stephens raised American morale by easing past Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1 6-3 to reach the third round. Stephens followed her teenage compatriot Taylor Townsend, who on Wednesday became the youngest player to go past the second round at Roland Garros since 2009 on the day world No.1 Serena Williams and her elder sister Venus were knocked out. The 21-year-old Stephens blazed through the opening set before running into a spot of bother midway through the second as Hercog upped her game but the American ended the contest on her second match point with a crosscourt forehand winner. Sixth seed Jelena Jankovic proved strong on serve to hold off Japanese Kurumi Nara, who collapsed in the second set in a 7-5 6-0 defeat by the Serbian who is a three-times semi-finalist in Paris. "It was not easy, she is returning a lot of balls and the court is heavy and the conditions generally are heavy," Jankovic said. "There are still a lot of great players in the draw, every round is going to be tough. The opponents get more and more difficult." Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian 27th seed, labored to a 7-6(5) 6-3 win over Italian Camila Giorgi. In the men's draw, Croatian 16th seed Ivo Karlovic reached the third round with a 7-5 6-3 6-4 win over Andreas Haider-Maurer. American Donald Young knocked out Spanish 26th seed Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. "I have actually never won a match outside of the U.S. on red clay. So to win two here at the French Open, it means a lot," Young said. Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez followed up nicely on his first-round defeat of third seed Wawrinka by beating France's Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3 4-6 6-0. (For more sports news and updates,followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand on Facebook atAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/102502.aspx
