Tommy Haas reaches third round at French Open

German veteran tennis player Tommy Haas won his second round match at the French Open Thursday. It was the last match to finish in the evening at 9:30 p.m. local time.

The 34-year-old, former number two ranked player in the world, played Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked 84 in the world. Haas took the match 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

This is only the 10th time that Haas, currently ranked 112, has played Roland Garros. Injuries kept him away from Paris for a number of years during his career which began in 1996.

Haas played three rounds of qualifying to make it into the first round where he beat Italy's Filippo Volandri.

Asked what motivates him to continue playing Haas said: "My daughter, Valentina, is a year and a half. If I can play another year, year and a half, maybe she gets to see me play at a real high level still, which is another goal of mine.”

Haas said that as he missed three or four years through injury, he feels mentally younger: "Maybe mentally I'm only 29, 30, instead of my real age ... showing."

He cited Andre Agassi as a player who showed “it is possible to play unbelievable tennis at age 34, 35, 36 if you keep yourself in great shape.”

He next plays the 17th seed, Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

jm/ncy (Reuters, AFP)