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.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite