Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva, the 2004 Roland Garros runner-up, was sent crashing out of the French Open in the third round on yesterday by Australia’s Samantha Stosur.
The 30th seed won 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career and the first time on the testing clay courts of the French capital.
Stosur will now tackle either Italy’s Tathiana Garbin or France’s Virginie Razzano. A victory would make her the first Australian woman to make the quarter-finals at the French Open since Jelena Dokic in 2002.
PHOTO: AP
The powerful Gold Coast resident, who lost to Dementieva in the third round of the Australian Open this year, took the first set with a trademark, big forehand before both players struggled with the windy conditions inside Court Philippe Chatrier.
The first four games of the second set all went against serve until Dementieva made the crucial break in the 10th game to level the tie.
But 25-year-old Stosur raced away in the decider taking a 4-0 lead before wrapping up the match with another power-packed crosscourt winner as Dementieva joined third seed Venus Williams as a major third round casualty.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian seventh seed, continued her low-profile progress through the tournament with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Hungary’s Melinda Czink.
Kuznetsova, a former US Open champion and who was runner-up in Paris in 2006, has lost just 11 games on her way to the fourth round for a sixth successive year.
The 23-year-old will face either Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska or unseeded Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko for a place in the quarter-finals.
In women’s doubles yesterday, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 7-5.
Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and partner Sania Mirza of India made a surprisingly early exit from the women’s doubles on Friday, losing to the Radwanska sisters, Urszula and Agnieszka in their second round match.
Chuang and Mirza lived up to their No. 14 seeding by claiming the first set 6-4 before the Polish siblings edged a close second set, winning a tie-break 7-5.
The Poles took the deciding set 6-3 to set up a clash with No. 2 seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Lisa Raymond of the US.
In men’s play, Andy Roddick produced a sizzling display to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the first time.
He finally climbed over that hump with a brilliantly crafted 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Marc Gicquel, holding his arms aloft in triumph as he watched the Frenchman’s service return sail over his head on match point.
Earlier, Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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