French Open 2015 Schedule, Live Stream, Recap, Video Highlights: Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer Advance; Rafael in Action in Day 5
Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round of the 2015 French Open after defeating their respective opponents in Day 4 of competition on Wednesday.
Federer, who scored a straight-set victory against Alejandro Falla of Colombia in the opening round of the tournament, booked a spot in the next round with another three-setter victory against Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in their second-round matchup.
The second-seeded Swiss had a smooth victory in the first set, but had to battle back from a 2-4 deficit in the second set. He was also down 0-2 in the third set, but also managed to get into his rhythm en route to the straight-set win.
Federer said after the match that he felt he was in control despite trailing in the second and third sets, but he admitted that he was not contented with the way he played on Wednesday.
"The thing you don't want to do is you want to start off badly sets, and that's what happened in the beginning of the third. I played a horrible game," Federer said via ATP World Tour. "It was just very disappointing and frustrating. But after that, I must say, it was probably my best spell of the match right after that. I was offensive."
Maria Sharapova Defeats Compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko
Second seed Maria Sharapova cruised to the second round with an easy 6-3, 6-1 victory over fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko in their second-round match.
Sharapova, who is the defending champion of the women's tournament, broke serve in the opening game, but allowed Diatchenko to get the break back in the fourth game. However, Diatchenko struggled with her serve, allowing Sharapova to run away with the win in the opening set.
Sharapova, who is looking to win her sixth Grand Slam title, then dominated in the second set, which she took in just 35 minutes, setting a showdown with Samantha Stosur of Australia in the third round.
Highlights of the Federer-Granollers and Sharapova-Diatchenko matches are available on this link.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will also look to book a spot in the third round when he takes on compatriot Nicolas Almagro in Day 5 of competition on Thursday at the Philippe-Chatrier Court.
The Nadal-Almagro match will begin after the match between Julia Goerges and Caroline Wozniacki, which is scheduled at 6 a.m ET. Fans can livestream the action via WatchESPN.
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