Slam winners eliminated, Wozniacki alive at French
PARIS — Garbine Muguruza did not take kindly to the way spectators pulled for her opponent — her French opponent, mind you — at the French Open.
So after her title defense ended with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 loss to 13th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic at a packed and rowdy Court Suzanne Lenglen on a surprise-filled Sunday that left zero past Grand Slam champions in the women’s field, Muguruza walked toward the locker room while wagging a finger toward the stands, as if to say, “Tsk, tsk!”
“The crowd was really tough today,” Muguruza, from Spain, said at a news conference that was halted at one point so she could compose herself after getting choked up.
“Sometimes,” she added, “[fans] should be a little bit more respectful.”
All four of the day’s fourth-round matches pitted one woman who has won at least one major trophy (Muguruza, Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Samantha Stosur) against a woman who has not. And each time, the less-accomplished player won. Add it all up, and it means that there will be a first-time major title winner at the end of the tournament.
About an hour after Muguruza’s exit, seven-time major champion Williams lost to 30th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
“She had so many answers today,” said Williams, who also lost to Bacsinszky in the fourth round a year ago. Kuznetsova, who won the 2009 French Open and 2004 U.S. Open, was ousted by two-time major runner-up Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, while 2011 U.S. Open champion Stosur was eliminated by 19-yearold Jelena Ostapenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Mladenovic will face Bacsinszky next, and Wozniacki meets Ostapenko. In addition, all eight women who play in the fourth round Monday are seeking a first major title, so it will be the first French Open since 1977 — and first major tournament anywhere since the 1979 Australian Open — without a past Slam champion among the quarterfinalists.
In men’s action, nine-time champion Rafael Nadal and defending champion Novak Djokovic both won in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals in Paris for the 11th time, equaling Roger Federer’s record for the professional era. Next up: Nadal faces No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta, and Djokovic takes on No. 6 Dominic Thiem.