Jeanjean, a wild card who went to college in Boca, beats No. 8 seed
PARIS
Grand Slam losses by high-ranked, well-known and accomplished players to, well, lower-ranked, lesser-known and lessaccomplished opponents — and there have been so many in the French Open women’s draw that just three of the top 10 seeds remain after merely two rounds — offer a rare opportunity for those unheralded winners to enjoy the spotlight.
So meet Leolia Jeanjean: age 26; from Montpellier, France; ranked 227th; a wild-card entry after never before being a Slam participant; seemingly destined as a kid for great things in tennis, so much so that there were sponsorship deals before she was old enough to attend high school, until, that is, an injured knee derailed things. She left the sport for a couple of years, wound up moving to the U.S., where she played college tennis at Baylor, then Arkansas, then Lynn University in Boca Raton, while pursuing her studies in finance. At Lynn, she went unbeaten in singles and doubles, so it occurred to her maybe a professional career was worth a try.
Good choice for Jeanjean. Bad one for her foes so far at Roland Garros, including Karolina Pliskova, a two-time major finalist and the No. 8 seed, who was unable to offer much resistance Thursday and was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Jeanjean on Thursday.
“Even me, I don’t have an explanation. I don’t even realize what’s happening,” Jeanjean said. “It’s my first Grand Slam. I thought I would have lost in the first round in two sets – and I found myself beating a top-10 player.
So, honestly, I have nothing else to say. I don’t really know how it’s possible.”
Later in the day, No. 9 Danielle Collins, the Australian Open runner-up in January, departed, too, eliminated by 50th-ranked Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup between Americans.
Pliskova and Collins joined all five top-10 seeds from the bottom half of the draw on the way out:
No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova — the 2021 champion who was beaten in the first round Monday, then pulled out of doubles, too, because she tested positive for COVID-19 — No. 4 Maria Sakkari, No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, No. 6 Ons Jabeur and No. 10 Garbine Muguruza were all gone by Wednesday.
The remaining trio, all in the top half of the bracket, won secondround matches Thursday: No. 1 Iga Swiatek ran her winning streak to 30 matches, the longest in women’s tennis since Serena Williams had a 34-match run in 2013, by overwhelming Alison
Riske 6-0, 6-2; No. 3 Paula Badosa recovered from a mid-match lapse to get past Kaja Juvan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka defeated Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3.
The men’s draw has certainly seen some excitement — including five-set victories after being match point down for both No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday — but the nine top-10 seeds who finished before
Thursday night all made it to the third round.
No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up at Roland Garros a year ago, was playing qualifier Zdenek Kolar at night.
Pliskova has been ranked No. 1 and was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year and the U.S.
Open in 2016. She also reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2017.
But Pliskova found the court conditions “a bit too brutal,” on account of a chill in the air with the temperature in the low
60s Fahrenheit (teens Celsius) and the clay underfoot rendered a bit sticky thanks to a morning drizzle.
“One thing is, of course, how I played,” Pliskova said, “and I think [the] other thing is how she played.”
Jeanjean trailed 2-1 at the start before collecting nine consecutive games, displaying some of the strategic smarts that coach Thomas Delgado praised as one of her greatest attributes, saying: “She knows where to play, how to play, when to play.”