Svitolina ousts former champion Ivanovic in Paris
PARIS: Ana Ivanovic’s hopes of adding to her 2008 French Open success ended rather tamely on Saturday as she was beaten by Ukrainian 18th seed Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-4 in the third round on Saturday.
A year ago, it seemed as if Ivanovic may be emerging from a prolonged slump after making it to the Paris semi-finals for the first time since her title run.
However, the Serbian 14th seed’s form has nosedived over the past 12 months and she has since failed to progress past the third round of the subsequent four major tournaments.
The 28-year-old recovered from 4-1 down in the second set to level at 4-4 but the brief fightback only delayed the inevitable.
A forehand slapped into the net ended her ordeal and she pulled her white sun visor over her eyes as she made a quick exit from the Court One bullring.
Svitolina, a quarter-finalist 12 months ago, will next play either defending champion Serena Williams or French hopeful Kristina Mladenovic.
SHOW MUST GO ON
Rafael Nadal went down fighting on his favourite battleground a year ago but this time his quest for an unprecedented 10th French Open title ended sitting glumly in front of a microphone.
With third-round action in full swing out on the Roland Garros claycourts, Nadal dropped a bombshell midway though a sunny afternoon when he announced he was withdrawing because of an injury to his left wrist.
For one of the game’s fiercest fighters, it was a lame way to go -- especially after he had dropped only nine games in reaching the third round where he had been due to play compatriot Marcel Granollers on Saturday.
The Spaniard’s hastily convened news conference which caught everyone on the hop cast a pall over the tournament, especially after 17-times grand slam champion and 2009 French winner Roger Federer withdrew last week due to a back injury.
There was still some notable action on Friday, however, as seeded players began colliding.
Men’s defending champion Stan Wawrinka eased into the last 16 by beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-3 7-5, second seed Andy Murray defused Ivo Karlovic’s rocket serve and home favourite Richard Gasquet had fans on Philippe Chatrier Court drooling as he took out Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios.
Agnieszka Radwanska, the women’s second seed, and Spain’s fourth seed Garbine Muguruza also advanced in the sunshine as did Australian Sam Stosur who beat 2015 runner-up Lucie Safarova to set up a match with another former finalist Simona Halep. Ordinarily, 10th seed and twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova’s shock 6-0 6-7(3) 6-0 defeat by 108th-ranked American Shelby Rogers would have reverberated.
But everything was overshadowed by Nadal’s wrist.
Explaining the problem, he said an injury that first flared up in Madrid a few weeks ago had returned with a vengeance and that soldiering on could risk snapping a tendon. “I’m here to announce that I have to retire from the tournament because I have a problem in my wrist that I have had a couple of weeks,” Nadal, 30 next week, told a room packed with nonplussed reporters.
“Yesterday evening I started to feel more and more pain and today I felt I could not move my wrist.
“To win the title I need five more matches. The doctor says that’s 100 percent impossible.”
Fourth seed Nadal had looked primed to reclaim his throne after losing to Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals when he was struggling for form. That his attempt failed because of injury made it all the more disappointing.