Stan, Andy thru; Nishikori exits
PARIS—Perennial Grand Slam title contenders Stanislas Wawrinka and Andy Murray were joined in the French Open quarterfinals by two unfamiliar faces on Sunday as the Parisian clay continued to turn up unexpected plot lines.
It was no surprise to see Swiss title holder Wawrinka beat Viktor Troicki although it took a while for the third seed to subdue the Serb, 7-6(5) 6-7(7) 6-3 6-2.
Murray’s 7-6(9) 6-4 6-3 defeat of John Isner was entirely predictable, even if the second seed had to save three set points in the opener before extending his career record over the towering American to 6-0 in clinical fashion.
Three-time semifinalist Murray will play ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet, the sole surviving French singles player, who had the crowd in raptures on Court Philippe Chatrier with a scintillating 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2 win over Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori.
Organizers will have to make sweeping changes to the playing schedule as torrential rain brought delays to the fourth round.
Rain is forecast to keep falling throughout the day which could cause a first washout since 2000.
Huey, partner out
In men’s doubles, unseeded French duo Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin upset the No. 10 pair of Filipino-American Treat Huey and Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the fourth round.
Huey and Slovenian Andreja Klepac were trailing against Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Brazil’s Bruno Soares, the fifth seeds, 7-5, 1-1, in their second-round mixed doubles match when play was halted Sunday, also due to rains.
The No. 1 women’s double pairing of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza is also out, losing 63, 6-2 to the Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. Hingis and Mirza are the reigning Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champions.
Two other players advanced to the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.
No. 55 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, a first-round loser for the last four years, crushed eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic, 6-2 6-4 6-4, while No. 108 American Shelby Rogers beat Romania’s 25th seed Irina Begu, 6-3 6-4.