Halep crashes out in Paris
Croatian veteran reaches third round as India’s Bopanna and Paes both progress in the men’s doubles
Last year’s French Open runner-up loses in Roland Garros second round to Croatian veteran Lucic-Baroni
Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reached the French Open third round for the first time since 2001 yesterday when she defeated Romanian third seed Simona Halep 7-5, 6-1. Lucic-Baroni, ranked at 70 in the world and who had also defeated 2014 Roland Garros runner-up Halep in the US Open last year, goes on to face France’s Alize Cornet.
Lucic-Baroni last reached the third round in Paris in 2001 as a 19-year-old qualifier, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati.
She made her debut back in 1999 but didn’t play the tournament between 2003 and 2010.
“It’s incredible. Simona is such a great champion and I respect her a lot,” said Lucic-Baroni who fired 29 winners to Halep’s five. “I am so happy to be back on the big court. I knew that if I was going to win I would have to go for my shots — that’s my game anyway. I’m so proud of myself.”
On facing home hope Cornet in the next round, the Croatian added: “I just hope at least three French people cheer for me.”
Halep is the second top 10 casualty this week. Sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard was knocked out in the first round on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, India’s Rohan Bopanna, partnering Romanian Florin Mergea, and India’s Leander Paes along with Canadian Daniel Nestor advanced into the men’s doubles second round.
Bopanna-Mergea, who are seeded ninth, defeated Serbian duo Filip Krajinovic and Viktor Troicki 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round at Roland Garros.
Paes-Nestor, seeded tenth, beat Australian pair James Duckworth and Chris Guccione 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in the first round.
Close contest
In the match involving Bopanna, the first set was a close contest, which was finally clinched by Krajinovic and Troicki. But Bopanna-Mergea came back strongly to win the second set 6-3 and followed it up by clinching the third set 6-4.
Bopanna-Mergea will next face American duo Austin Krajicek and Donald Young in the second round after they earlier beat Maxime Teixeira and Florent Serra 6-1, 6-3.
Paes-Nestor showed their dominance right from the word go, winning the first set 6-2 in a one-sided affair. But the Australian pair refused to give up. In a tight game, although Paes Nestor had the upper hand, Duckworth-Guccione held their nerves till the end to level the game by winning the second set 7-5. The third and final set was the most entertaining one as the game swung to both sides, but the Indo-Canadian pair had the last laugh, winning it 7-5 to wrap up the match.
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