Sharapova, Murray breeze through
DEFENDING women’s champion Maria Sharapova reached the French Open second round yesterday, but was jeered by fans after she refused to carry out an on-court TV interview.
Second-seeded Sharapova defeated experienced Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-4 to set up a clash against Russian Fed Cup teammate Vitalia Diatchenko.
But the 27-year-old irritated the Philippe Chatrier Court crowd by refusing to carry out the traditional on-court television pleasantries, claiming her voice was not strong enough.
She said she had been suffering from a cold in a worrying repeat of last year when she was also sick in the run-up to Paris.
There were no such problems for British third seed Andy Mur- ray, twice a semifinalist, who took his clay record this season to 11-0 with a 6-3 6-3 6-1 win over Argentine “lucky loser” Facundo Arguello.
Murray, with claycourt titles in Munich and Madrid, goes on to face either Canadian world No 53 Vasek Pospisil or Portugal’s 44th-ranked Joao Sousa.
Ex-world No 2 and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska was a shock first-round loser.
The Polish 14th seed, a quarterfinalist in 2013, went down 6-2 3-6 6-1 to Germany’s Annika Beck.
Former world No 1 Venus Williams suffered another early French Open exit when she was beaten 7-6(5) 6-1 by fellow American Sloane Stephens.
It was not a major surprise, though, as Stephens has reached the fourth round of the claycourt grand slam in the past three years.
World No 4 Tomas Berdych, a 2010 semifinalist, continued his solid claycourt season with a 6-0 7-5 6-3 win over Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, the world No 146.
Former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, who missed last year’s Roland Garros through injury, marked her return by beating Spain’s María-Teresa Torró-Flor 6-2 6-1.
Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, the youngest woman in the draw at 17, made the next round with a 6-1 6-4 win over Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan. – AFP, Reuters