Casey Dellacqua names Brad Pitt as her favorite movie star, but it's Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal, and not the Hollywood hunk, who makes her heart race on the tennis court.
The Australian girl, who has reached the French Open last 32 for the first time, believes that she has everything to learn from watching the Roland Garros master, a fellow left-hander.
“I can’t hit the ball as heavy because I don’t have the guns and the muscles like he does,” the 23-year-old from Perth said. “But he patents a play. I’m always watching lefties, Patty Schnyder and a lot of the girls and how they work the ball. I think that I’ve learned a lot from that and from previous French Opens. You see Nadal and being a lefty, it’s just awesome. I can watch him and also feel how I could possibly play as well.”
Dellacqua, the world No. 51, defeated French ninth seed Marion Bartoli, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, in the first round and then followed it up by knocking out another home hope, Nathalie Dechy, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday.
She will now face Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro, who put out former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, for a place in the last 16.
Her run in the French capital mirrors her best Grand Slam performance to date, which came at the Australian Open in January where she put out Mauresmo and Swiss top 20 player Patty Schnyder before losing in the fourth round to eventual semi-finalist Jelena Jankovic.
“I was pretty excited when I won my first round, beating Marion,” Dellacqua said. “I guess to win another round is pretty good for me. I’m really looking at getting matches at this stage and just focusing on my goals. Hopefully, this is just part of the process. The French Open was part of that.”
“I’ve been chipping away every day, working harder and harder at the clay,” she said. “That’s why I came to Europe early to get myself ready for the French Open. So I’ve done that and it’s really paid off.”
Dellacqua is the only Australian girl left in the tournament following the second round defeat of Samantha Stosur by Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic on Thursday.
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