Jack Sock wins third-round French Open match, will face Rafael Nadal on Monday

Jack Sock’s run at the French Open continued with a impressive victory Saturday, but there wasn’t much time to celebrate.

He planned to have dinner at Chipotle and then prepare for one of the biggest challenges of his professional tennis career, a match against nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

Sock, a former star at Blue Valley North High School, defeated Croatian teenager Borna Coric 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round in Paris. The victory set up a round of 16 match Monday against Nadal, who is often called “The King of Clay.”

“He’s decent in this tournament,” Sock told reporters with a laugh after his victory. “Well, he’s lost one match here.”

Nadal beat Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 Saturday for his 69th win in 70 career matches on the clay at Roland Garros.

“That will be a fun one,” Sock said. “I’m not really one to get a whole lot of nerves before big matches. I more look forward to it, and it should be hopefully an exciting match. Hopefully, I can play some good tennis and give him a good battle.”

Sock said he hopes the confidence he has gained through the first three rounds will carry over into the match with Nadal.

“Obviously we are both going be trying to do similar things,” Sock said. “It will be pretty interesting to see the different game plans going on. Obviously we are both looking to hit forehands....

“I will have to be focused and be thinking on every shot and every point. It will be good.”

It will be Sock’s first career match against Nadal, who has yet to drop a set in his three wins.

“It will be not fair if I say that I am not happy about what happened this first week,” Nadal said. “I think I am playing solid, consistent. That’s what I need to.

“Then I arrive the second week and you know that you have to go that extra step to have chances. So I hope to have a good practice (Sunday) and be ready to play a great match on Monday, because I will need it.”

While Sock is looking forward to his showdown with Nadal, it isn’t his only motivating factor. He said that his grandfather is in a care center battling Alzheimer’s disease.

He gets updates by calling the center and talking with his aunt and grandmother.

“They put the phone up to his ear so I could say some words and hopefully could hear me,” said Sock, who has “4UGPA” written on his shoes in honor of his grandfather.

“I hope he just lasts as long as he can and then hopefully after this tournament, I can get back and hopefully go see him.”

Sock advanced to the round of 16 in men’s singles at a major tennis tournament for the first time in his career with his victory over Coric.

Sock had six aces and 31 winners, and he took advantage of 29 unforced errors by Coric. He converted five of 10 break-point chances and saved the only break point he faced, winning 30 of 34 first-serve points.

“It was a good day for me,” Sock told reporters after the match. “I was fortunate enough to play great tennis.”

Coric credited Sock with a strong performance.

“He just played way too good today,” Coric said. “He was serving too big. His forehands were very heavy and I was struggling to cope with that.”

Sock is the only American left in men’s singles. At age 22, he became the youngest American to reach the round of 16 since Pete Sampras in 1993.

He is also alive in doubles with partner Vasek Pospisil. Sock and Pospisil, who won a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last year, have a doubles match today against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Sock has played well on clay this year, having also won his first ATP World Tour title last month in Houston. His previous best result in the French Open was a third-round finish last year.

“I feel like it maximizes my game more than other surfaces,” Sock said of playing on clay. “I’m able to set up and dictate with the forehand again. (My serve) definitely gets up. It definitely makes my shots a little more lethal than on other surfaces. It feels like it suits my game very well. I feel very comfortable on it.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Jack Sock wins third-round French Open match, will face Rafael Nadal on Monday."