The Chan sisters both advanced to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the French Open on Sunday, but fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung bid au revoir to the red clay courts in Paris.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Jamie Murray had to rally from a set down to oust Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Rohan Bopanna of India 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in their second-round match on Court 17 at Roland Garros.
The Taiwanese-British duo saved three of the six break points they faced and converted two of three, winning 59 of the 111 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
Photo: Screengrab from Facebook
On Court 10, seventh seeds Chan Yung-jan and Max Mirnyi completed a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Serbian duo Jelena Jankovic and Nenad Zimonjic.
The duo hit four winners and converted all three break points they created, winning 59 of the 110 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against either second seeds Sania Mirza of India and Ivan Dodig of Croatia or French duo Alize Cornet and Jonathan Eysseric, who were scheduled to play their second-round match yesterday.
On Court 6, it was not such a good day for Chuang and Henri Kontinen of Finland, who fell to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to eighth seeds Coco Vandeweghe and Bob Bryan.
Photo: Reuters
The duo advanced to a quarter-final clash with third-seeded French pairing Kristina Mladenovic and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
In the singles, Shelby Rogers on Sunday beat a seeded player at Roland Garros for the third time in a week, reaching the first major quarter-final of her nascent career with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 25 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
In the past 30 years, only five women ranked lower than Rogers have made it to the quarter-finals at the French Open.
“I keep reminding myself to play one point at a time and that this is just another tennis match, but that’s getting a little bit harder to do as the rounds get farther,” said 23-year-old Rogers, who is from South Carolina.
“I have nothing to lose. I have no pressure. It’s just been a great experience here, and I want to keep enjoying it and keep pushing myself,” Rogers said. “I’m definitely outside of my comfort zone already, and I keep telling myself: You belong here. You belong here.”
Certainly does.
She pushed Begu around the court, producing a 9-3 edge in forehand winners while using the same deep, flat groundstrokes that dictated points against her previous opponents, including No. 10 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, and No. 17 Karolina Pliskova.
“I was way behind the baseline, and she was just controlling the game,” Begu said.
When it ended, Rogers dropped her racket and covered her face with both hands. Soon enough, she was crying, so much so that Rogers was handed a tissue by 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, who conducted the on-court interview afterward.
Not that the emotional display was anything new for Rogers.
“One-hundred percent, tears all the time. Sad, happy, hungry, reading a book, watching a movie. They flow very easily,” she said through a wide smile at her news conference. “Those little puppy commercials: ‘Adopt a puppy.’ No, change the channel. Can’t do it.”
Only once before had Rogers even been as far as the third round at a major tournament, losing at that stage at last year’s US Open as a qualifier. Otherwise, of her nine previous Grand Slam appearances, six ended in the first round, the others in the second.
Rogers’ next test comes against No. 4 Garbine Muguruza, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, who is to be playing in her third consecutive quarter-final at Roland Garros after overwhelming 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4.
Two other fourth-round matches were suspended because of rain: No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska versus Tsvetana Pironkova and No. 6 Simona Halep versus 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur.
Thanks to Rogers, the US could have multiple French Open quarter-finalists for the first time since 2004. Three other US women are playing in the fourth round: No. 1 Serena Williams, No. 9 Venus Williams and No. 15 Madison Keys.
The last US man in the draw, No. 15 John Isner, bowed out with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-4, 6-3 loss to No. 2 Andy Murray, now a quarter-finalist for the 20th time in his past 21 Grand Slam tournaments.
The key was the opening tiebreaker: Isner held three set points — at 6-5, 7-6 and 9-8 — but failed to convert any.
“A bit deflating,” Isner said.
At 6-5, Murray returned a 213kph serve. Isner did not do much with a forehand reply, setting up Murray’s backhand passing winner.
“Went with ‘option D’ there,” Isner said. “A, B and C would have been better.”
Murray next faces No. 9 Richard Gasquet of France. Gasquet advanced to his first French Open quarter-final with a rain-interrupted 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 victory over No. 5 Kei Nishikori.
Another quarter-final is to be defending champion Stan Wawrinka against 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Wawrinka beat No. 22 Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2, while Ramos-Vinolas surprised No. 8 Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
The most entertaining moment of either match might have been when Wawrinka rallied with a ball boy during a delay while Troicki was getting treatment on his right leg.
“It was nice for him, it was fun for the audience, and it kept me busy,” Wawrinka said.
The French Open yesterday suffered its first complete washout since 2000 when all scheduled matches were canceled due to heavy rain.
Eight last-16 matches, plus two more that had already been held over from Sunday night have been rescheduled for today alongside three planned quarter-finals.
Play had been set to get underway at 11am, but was eventually called off just before 2pm.
Additional reporting by AFP
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