David Ferrer and Evgeny Donskoy met for the first time in their careers on day three at the 2016 French Open, with the Spaniard comfortably winning to reach the second round at the Paris-based slam for the fourteenth consecutive year. The eleventh seed progressed with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Ferrer cruises to win the opener
The start of the match was a tight affair, as both players held their opening service games from deuces despite not having to save any break points. Donskoy had a half chance in his second return game, but failed to give himself an opportunity and was broken in the very next game after initially saving a break point. From this position, he only won three more points on return and was broken again to concede the opening set 6-1. The Russian had started well but struggled to get any consistency on his first delivery, as he was serving at a below-par 40 percent, compared to an impressive 79 percent from Ferrer.
Ferrer continues his domination
The second set was a similar story, with Donskoy starting well but unable to trouble Ferrer in his opening return game. He saved a break point in his second service game of the set but was unable to prevent another from being taken, continuing to give Ferrer all of the momentum. This time, he held serve in his next service game to give himself a chance to stay in the second set, but this only led to Ferrer securing yet another break after a long game which included two deuces.
The Spaniard made no mistake to serve out the second set, to leave him requiring only one set to reach the second round in Paris yet again. The gap between the two player’s serving percentages had decreased, but Ferrer was still holding easily, winning 83 percent of points of his first delivery.
The eleventh seed completes the victory
Any momentum that Donskoy was hoping to gain early in the third set were emphatically dismissed by Ferrer, as the eleventh seed broke twice to lead 3-0. Out of nowhere, the Russian created a break point for the first time in the match, but was unable to convert and paid the price in the final games. The world number 75 seemed to prevent a bagel from occurring after saving a break point at 0-4 down, however, Ferrer was in no mood to sympathise, breaking two points later before securing the 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Overall thoughts
The world number 11 showed the considerable gap between himself and Donskoy, as he completely outclassed the Russian to only drop three games in this first round clash. Ferrer won double the amount of points his opponent could in his return games, converting seven of his 11 break points compared to only having to save one. There was also a staggering difference between the points each player accumulated throughout the entire match, with Donskoy only winning 52, a full 36 behind the far superior Spaniard.
Ferrer progresses through to the second round, where he is scheduled to meet the Argentine Juan Monaco, who edged past Denis Istomin in four sets. The encounter is due to take place on Thursday at Roland Garros.