Federer Gets Record 234th Grand Slam Match Win
Roger Federer dropped a set before earning his record-breaking 234th Grand Slam match victory to reach the third round of the French Open.
Federer eliminated 92nd-ranked Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 Wednesday to break a tie with Jimmy Connors for most career wins at major tournaments in the Open era, which began in 1968.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion is now 234-35 in tennis' top four tournaments, an .870 winning percentage.
Ungur, meanwhile, is 1-1; the French Open was his Grand Slam debut.
Seeded third this year at Roland Garros, where he won the 2009 title, Federer is on course for a semifinal showdown against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who defeated Blaz Kavcic in straight sets Wednesday.
The top-seeded players had early starts at the French Open on Wednesday, and both Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka made it to the third round without a problem.
Djokovic was first up on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and he was barely troubled by Blaz Kavcic, winning 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 for his 23rd straight Grand Slam victory.
In the main stadium at Roland Garros, Azarenka defeated Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-1, 6-1 — two days after struggling to win her opening match.
Later Wednesday, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was to face Venus Williams in a late match.
Djokovic was broken once by Kavcic, but otherwise had little trouble. He did, however, finish the match with 34 unforced errors, almost twice as many as Kavcic's 21.
Azarenka, who took over the No. 1 ranking after winning the Australian Open, easily advanced against Pfizenmaier on Court Philippe Chatrier.
In the first round, Azarenka struggled early before winning 12 of the final 14 games to advance. She committed 60 unforced errors in that opening match, but brought that number down to only 11 on Wednesday.
Azarenka reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year, matching her best performance at the claycourt Grand Slam.
U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur also advanced, beating Irina Falconi of the United States 6-1, 6-4.
Source: Associated Press
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