French Open 2012: Day 9 Scores, Results and Recap

The 2011 French Open champion will not repeat.

No, Rafael Nadal is still in pursuit of a 2012 title. He made his competition look like they didn’t deserve to be on the same court with him once again. Li Na, last year’s women’s winner, fell on Day 9, ending her spectacular streak at Roland Garros.

Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray avoided suffering the same fate as Li with wins that they had to work for. Here’s a recap of their days along with the rest of the field’s results.

Rafa Rolls…Again

Nadal has yet to lose a set in the French Open. In the fourth round, Juan Monaco presented a different face, but the same difficulty for the Spaniard. Nadal breezed through him 6-2, 6-0, 6-0.

After the slaughter, Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times tweeted this quote from Nadal:

"

"I'm very sorry for my friend." --Rafael Nadal, on what he just did to Juan Monaco. #rg12

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) June 4, 2012"

If an opponent manages to upset Rafa, it’d be absolutely shocking—even if Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer were the culprit. Right now, Nadal is simply on another level than anyone that steps up across the net from him. His dominance has gotten to the point that if his quarterfinals opponent Nicolas Almagro manages to win a single set, it’d be such an impressive accomplishment that Almargro should drop his racket and call his mother.

Li Na Falls

Na entered the tournament ranked the seventh-best women’s tennis player in the world. She failed to live up to expectations. Yaroslava Shvedova eliminated her 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 and considering that Shvedova is ranked No. 142 in the world, Li has to be crushed she let the match slip away.

According to ESPN, when asked what caused her collapse after the loss, she responded: “I will find the ‘why.’ But not today. Otherwise, for sure, I win the match.”

At 30 years old, her Day 9 crumble is potentially a sign that she’s run into the wall that is Father Time.

Maria and Murry Survive

With Victoria Azarenka losing and Novak Djokovic nearly losing on Sunday, it wouldn’t have been a surprise for another star to fall on Monday. Sharapova and Murray stayed alive, though, after they got more fight out of their opponent than they bargained for.

Sharapova needed a third set to knock out 44th-ranked Klara Zakopalova. The Russian said after the match (via ESPN):

"

It was a good test for me. I had chances to finish in two sets and didn't but I came out strong in the third set. I guess that's really what matters and it's nice to be in the quarters again.

"

Murray had to be nervous after losing the first set to Richard Gasquet 6-1, but he battled back to win the next three.

Results

Men

Rafael Nadal defeated Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-0, 6-0

Andy Murray defeated Richard Gasquet 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4

David Ferrer defeated Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-2, 6-0

Juan Martin del Potro defeated Tomas Berdych 7-1, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5

Nicolas Almagro defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Women

Maria Sharapova defeated Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-7, 6-2

Petra Kvitova defeated Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-1

Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Li Na 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Kaia Kanepi defeated Arantxa Rus 6-1, 4-6, 6-0

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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