WOZNIACKI CRASHES OUT, SERENA SURVIVES BIG SCARE AT FRENCH OPEN
Dane ousted by Goerges; Serena, Kvitova survive; Nadal and Djokovic stay on course for quarterfinal showdown
PARIS: The pre- tournament shortlist of favourites for the French Open women’s crown continues to shrink and for a while it looked as though the name of top seed Serena Williams would also vanish on Thursday.
Shortly after former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out by Julia Goerges, meaning the third, fifth and sixth women’s seeds have all departed before round three, 33-year-old Williams stepped on Court Suzanne Lenglen to face unheralded 21-year-old German Anna-Lena Friedsam. TORRID TIME It looked like a mis- match but 105th- ranked Friedsam gave the 19-time Grand Slam champion a torrid time, taking the first set off the American before a nervy Williams recovered to scrape into the third round 5-7 6-3 6-3.
Twice for mer champion Williams has suffered at the French before, namely last year when she was beaten by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza at the same stage and more memorably in 2012 when France’s Virginie Razzano knocked her out in round one.
She will have to sharpen up considerably though against former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the next round.
Denmark’s Wozniacki joined the exodus of women’s seeds which includes Romanian third seed Simona Halep, last year’s runner- up, and number six Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, losing 6-4 7-6(4) to Goerges on a blustery Phillipe Chatrier court.
Fourth seed Petra Kvitova survived her own trial, however, coming back to beat Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 despite 54 unforced errors.
In contrast to the shocks in the women’s draw, the men’s favourites have been largely untroubled. UNTROUBLED All eyes have been on defending champion Rafa Nadal as the Spaniard battles to rediscover his mojo in time for a bid for a record-extending 10th French Open title, and their were plenty of encouraging signs as he beat compatriot Nicolas Almagro with relative ease to reach the third round.
Nadal took his stunning Roland Garros record to 68-1 with a routine 6-4 6-3 6-1 victory — his fourth without dropping a set against Almagro on the Paris clay.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a quarterfinal against Nadal as teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis provided a glimpse into the sport’s future.
Top seed Djokovic survived a worrying injury scare to reach the third round with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Gilles Muller of Luxemburg. Djokovic’s win was his 24th consecutive victory this year as he took another step towards a first ever Roland Garros title and a career Grand Slam. However, he needed a medical timeout leading 5-4 in the second set for treatment on what appeared to be a right groin strain. It didn’t affect him too much as he quickly wrapped up the second set with a service game to love.
The 28-year-old goes on to face 19-year-old Kokkinakis who saved three match points to beat fellow Australian Bernard Tomic 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 to make the third round of a major for the first time.
Sixth seed Nadal will face Andrey Kuznetsov for a place in the last 16 after the Russian defeated Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7/0), 7-5. SANIA-BRUNO OUT Top seeds Sania Mirza and Brazil’s Bruno Soares were ousted in the first round of the mixed doubles. They were shown the door by German-Danish duo, Anna -Lena Groenefeld and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-2, 6-2