That, of course, creates its own pressure but the world No 2’s win over Djokovic in the final in Rome a week before Roland Garros has heightened his belief that he can win here too. After the two World No.1s had preceded Murray and Gasquet on Court Philippe Chatrier – Serena Williams beat Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-1 and Djokovic beat Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6 6-4 6-1 7-5 – half the crowd seemed to decide that lunch was their biggest priority.
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At the same time, Murray was battling his way past Richard Gasquet in four sets having dug himself out of a hole at a set and 3-1 down in the second-set tie-break. The no. 2 seed also leads their clay meetings, as they have met twice in this Grand Slam, with Murray winning the 5-setter in 2010 and a 4-setter in 2012.
Murray will now play third seed and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who beat surprise package of the men’s draw Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6. Wawrinka fired eight aces and 49 winners to quietly put away his Spanish foe in less than two hours.
Murray is now competing in the year’s second grand slam in in Paris, where he told the BBC: “I believe I can win the event”.
As a result, there was barely a murmur as he held serve in the opening game then watched gratefully as Gasquet double-faulted to hand the Scot an early break.
We’ll probably see more in this one as well, with Wawrinka often set behind the baseline looking to use his power, and Murray will surely look to make the Swiss hit on the run and take him out of his comfort zone.
Djokovic finally booked his place in the quarter-finals by beating Bautista Agut in a match that had been scheduled to play on Monday before rain intervened and it sees him become the first player to pass $100m (about £69m) in prize money.
Bacsinszky lost to Serena Williams in a tense semifinal here a year ago.
“It’s a 50-50 encounter because if you look at the match up, Wawrinka is the defending champion and is playing great with all the firepower”.
Like Murray, Wawrinka also needed five sets to get through his opener against Lukas Rosol, but has dropped just one set since. I played two guys where you get zero rhythm, against (Ivo) Karlovic and (John) Isner. Both are great returners as well, with Gasquet maybe having the slight advantage, having won 23 of his return games so far as opposed to Murray’s 17, despite the fact that the latter have played more games in total.
Radwanska vs. Pironkova originally began Sunday, and Radwanska was three games from victory at 3-0 in the second set when play was suspended. The World No. 58, conqueror of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the first round, has now won 11 straight matches after arriving in Paris fresh from lifting the Nuremberg clay-court title as a qualifier. Shortly before that, Halep lost 7-6 (0), 6-3 to No. 21 Sam Stosur in a contest between two past finalists at Roland Garros. I believe I can win the event.
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“I think I have been always playing well”. “He’s been at the top of the game now for a number of years and is still improving”. I had to play concentrated and with intensity.
