Walk in the park for favourites
SMOOTH SAILING Federer, Sharapova, Wawrinka and Ivanovic advance in style; Cornet celebrates her progress in tears
PARIS: Stepping onto centre court to take on 88th-ranked Damir Dzumhur, Roger Federer was on his guard. The 17-time Grand Slam champion had been caught cold at a previous French Open by a player ranked as low as the 23-year-old Bosnian, and he made sure that did not happen again. Federer advanced to the fourth round for the 11th straight year with a clinical 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win on Friday.
“I’d never played him before, he moves well, he’s very quick. I didn’t know him and I didn’t know how he’d play on the key points,” said Federer, who lost in the first round in Paris to the 88th-ranked Luis Horna 12 years ago. “Mentally I’m not always as relaxed as people might think, there is so much at stake.”
GOOD WINS
On a good day for the favourites, defending champion Maria Sharapova produced a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over former finalist Samantha Stosur and Federer’s Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka advanced in straight sets. After struggling in her first two matches at the French Open, Ana Ivanovic eased past Donna Vekic 6-0, 6-3 to book a spot in the second week.
It was Sharapova’s first serious test this year, and she passed You know, sometimes I jog, and I know that sometimes birds will attack you. I thought that’s what was happening. Seriously. This was unbelievable, this pigeon getting stuck in the camera. A tough death.
On a pigeon getting stuck in the Hawkeye machine
It’s a bad feeling. I don’t want to feel it again. You cannot scream because we are really good friends and we don’t like to scream to each other, ‘Come on’ or something. So it’s really a quiet match.
on beating bestie Elena Vesnina
At last, I’m into the second week at Roland. I’ve been waiting for this for 11 years.
on reaching the fourth round
it with ease, in a sharp contrast to her previous match with Stosur in Paris last year, when she trailed 6-3, 4-3 before turning it around.
Up next for the second-seeded Sharapova is another tricky match against No. 13 seed Lucie Safarova. Sharapova has won four of their five matches, but their last three went to three sets.
On a cold morning in the French capital, it took Ivanovic just 53 minutes to return to a fourth round at a major tournament for the first time in more than a year. Ivanovic, who won the French Open in 2008 after losing in the final a year before, wrapped up the first set in 23 minutes and finished with 19 winners.
The last time Ivanovic made the fourth round of a major was at the Australian Open in 2014. She was eliminated by 142nd-ranked Lucie Hradecka in Melbourne earlier this year after playing with a broken toe. She will play No. 9 seed Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.
AFTER 11 ATTEMPTS
Local star Alize Cornet advanced to her maiden fourth-round match in 11 attempts at her home tournament with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 hard-fought win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who finished with 59 unforced errors after her all-risk approach backfired. She celebrated her victory as if she had won the tournament, falling onto her back, letting out a scream and then bursting into tears.
EASY FOR TOP GUNS
Grand Slam old guard Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray put next generation hopefuls Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios firmly in their place Saturday with comfortable French Open Women’s:
DOUBLES (RD 2)
Men’s: Leander Paes/Daniel Nestor (Ind/Canx10) bt A Begemann/J Knowle (Ger/ Aut) 7-6(3) 6-2; Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea (Ind/Roux9) bt D Young/A Krajicek 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 Women’s: Martina Hingis/ Sania Mirza (Sui/Indx1) bt S Foretz/A Hesse (Fra) 6-3 6-4