PARIS: Defending champion Rafael Nadal handed out a bruising lesson to highly-rated Austrian Dominic Thiem on Thursday as a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory took the Spaniard into the French Open third round.

Eight-time winner Nadal, bidding to be the first man to clinch five Roland Garros titles in a row, had been expected to face a severe test from the 20-year-old world number 57.

But Thiem, who trains for big matches by running through forests carrying tree trunks to build stamina, ran out of steam on Philippe Chatrier court despite showing occasional glimpses of potential.

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Nadal took his career record in Paris to 61 wins against a single loss and goes on to face Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

“Dominic is a dangerous player and I knew that if I wasn’t playing well then I’d be in trouble,” said Nadal.

Nadal’s compatriot David Ferrer, the fifth seed and last year’s runner-up, cruised past Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

Seventh seeded Andy Murray reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 over Australia’s Marinko Matosevic. Murray faces Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber for a place in the last 16.

Donald Young, the former world junior number one who has consistently struggled to live up the huge hype surrounding him, made the third round for the first time by beating Spanish 26th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3.

Big-serving Ivo Karlovic followed up his defeat of 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov, which was his first in Paris in seven years, by defeating Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer.

Karlovic fired 24 aces and didn’t face a break point as he made the third round for the first time.

The 2.11m (6ft 11in) Karlovic next faces 2.03m (6ft 8in) Kevin Anderson of South Africa who brushed aside Axel Michon 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Looking to make the most of the shock defeats of top seeds Serena Williams and Li Na in the women’s draw, Serb sixth seed Jelena Jankovic eased past Japan’s Kurumi Nara 7-5, 6-0.

Sloane Stephens, the 15th seed and top American following the defeat of defending champion Williams, saw off Slovenia’s Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-3.

Russian 27th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the champion in 2009, beat Italy’s Camila Giorgi 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

In a match held over from Wednesday, Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea came back from 6-2, 5-3 down to beat Romania’s Monica Niculescu 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 and will face title favourite Maria Sharapova for a place in the last 16.

In the men’s doubles, Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Boppan crashed to 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.

In the other match, Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic beat Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and Netherlands’ Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Results: Men’s: Jack Sock (US) bt Steve Johnson (US) 7-5, 6-4, 6-2; 7-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Marinko Matosevic (Australia) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 28-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2; 32-Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Juan Monaco (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) bt Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) bt Juergen Zopp (Estonia) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; 1-Rafa Nadal (Spain) bt Dominic Thiem (Austria) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; 19-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) bt Axel Michon (France) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Donald Young (US) bt 26-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-3; 5-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (Austria) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s: Pauline Parmentier (FRA) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x27) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3; Sloane Stephens (USA x15) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 6-1, 6-3; Marma Teresa Torrs Flor (ESP) bt Magdalina Rybarikova (SVK) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Jelena Jankovic (SRB x6) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 7-5, 6-0; Julia Glushko (ISR) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL x21) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-2, 6-4; Kiki Bertens (NED) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x24) 5-7, 6-4, 3-0 — retired; Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) bt Alison Riske (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2014