FRENCH OPEN: SHARAPOVA BOUNCES CZECH AFTER BATTLE
PARIS — On days like these, when so little goes right and so much goes awry, Maria Sharapova tosses away the strategies and scouting reports her coach devises and, well, does whatever it takes to win.
Locked in a three- set, three- hour struggle at a wet and windy French Open on Monday, Sharapova’s right, racket- swinging wrist was aching — and that, she insisted, was the least of her problems.
There was the tumble to her backside that Sharapova could laugh about later. The exasperating line calls, and what the second- seeded Russian considered an obstinate chair umpire. The 12 double- faults, plus 41 other errors of Sharapova’s own doing. The nine breaks she allowed, including three while serving for the match. The unseeded foe who wouldn’t go away.
“It was,” Sharapova summed up, “a good test for me.”
Certainly the first she’s faced at Roland Garros this year. After dropping a total of five games in three matches that averaged less than an hour each, Sharapova moved into the quarter- finals at the only Grand Slam tournament she hasn’t won by dispensing with tactics and swinging away until she finally pulled out a 6- 4, 6- 7 ( 5), 6- 2 victory over 44th- ranked Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.
“I’m useless with game plans. That’s probably the one thing [ coach Thomas Hogstedt] just gets so frustrated with me about,” Sharapova said. “I go out there and I do my own thing, and then he’s like, after the match, ‘ Really? What’s the point? I mean, what’s the point of having me?’ But I apologized when I hired him, in advance, so he’s OK.”
Her next opponent, No. 23 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, hasn’t been beyond the quarter- finals at any Grand Slam tournament but got to that round for the fourth time by defeating unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6- 1, 4- 6, 6- 0.
As for her second- set stumble, Sharapova chuckled and said: “That was my first fall of the clay season, which is the biggest shocker. I usually have a few before the French Open.”
Defending champion Li’s surprising exit came against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, an eyeglasses- wearing doubles specialist ranked 142nd in singles who needed to go through qualifying rounds to enter the main draw.
Shvedova dropped to her knees after taking the last 10 games to eliminate the seventh- seeded Li 3- 6, 6- 2, 6- 0 and become the ninth qualifier to reach the French Open quarterfinals. She’d be the first to make it to the semifinals if she beats Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who ended the career- best run of unseeded American Varvara Lepchenko 6- 2, 6- 1.
There are no heartwarming, out- ofnowhere stories like hers among the remaining men. It’s the first Grand Slam tournament since the 1984 French Open with all top six seeded men in the quarter- finals.
Rafael Nadal’s pursuit of a record seventh French Open title rolled on with another rout, this one a 6- 2, 6- 0, 6- 0 victory over his pal, Juan Monaco of Argentina, who’s not exactly a slouch — he was seeded 13th and has won five clay- court titles.
He’ll take a 7- 0 head- to- head record into an all- Spanish quarter- final against No. 12 Nicolas Almagro, who beat No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic 6- 4, 6- 4, 6- 4.
When three- time major finalist Andy Murray walked on court, he was booed by a partisan crowd pulling for France’s Richard Gasquet. Murray ignored a poor start, a still bother some back and more taunting and teasing from fans to win 1- 6, 6- 4, 6- 1, 6- 2.
Next for Murray is a quarter- final showdown against No. 6 David Ferrer, who overwhelmed No. 20 Marcel Granollers 6- 3, 6- 2, 6- 0.
In two matches halted in progress Sunday night because of darkness, No. 5 Jo- Wilfried Tsonga finished off No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka 6- 4, 7- 6 ( 6), 3- 6, 3- 6, 6- 4, while No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro defeated No. 7 Tomas Berdych 7- 6 ( 6), 1- 6, 6- 3, 7- 5.
Aiming to be France’s first male champion at a Grand Slam tournament since Yannick Noah in Paris in 1983, Tsonga plays No. 1 Novak Djokovic today in a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final. Del Potro set up a rematch of the 2009 U. S. Open final he won against 16- time major champion Roger Federer.
BASELINES: Canadian Daniel Nestor reached his sixth straight doubles semifinal at the French Open on Monday. Nestor and Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi defeated American Ryan Harrison and Australian Matthew Ebden 6- 4, 6- 4 to advance.