Heavy rain from depressing gray skies kept the players off court and the fans huddled under umbrellas at the French Open yesterday as only five matches were completed by mid-afternoon.
The action began on time, but a near two-hour interruption, followed by a short dry period and then yet more rain, threatened to play havoc with the schedule for the second time.
Former women’s runner-up Samantha Stosur took advantage of the two periods of play to reach the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic on Court Philippe Chatier.
Photo: AFP
The Australian next faces 18th seed Jelena Jankovic in a repeat of their 2010 semi-final after the Serbian won 12 successive games to beat Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-0, shortly before showers interrupted the first matches of the day on 12 other courts.
With the cool midday temperature, Jankovic took the court wearing pink leggings and a long-sleeve pink shirt. She looked uncomfortable at the start, losing the first three games, then won the rest after adjusting to 19-year-old Muguruza’s strokes.
“She’s a great up-and-coming player,” Jankovic said.
PHOTO: AFP
Jankovic won with steady play from the baseline, while the big-swinging Muguruza committed 29 unforced errors.
Jankovic, seeded 18th, is a three-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros.
Kazakhstab’s Yaroslava Shvedova became the first seed to fall yesterday, after the 27th seed lost to Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea.
Photo: AFP
If the rain relented both the men’s and women’s champions were due on court later with Rafael Nadal up against Martin Klizan and Maria Sharapova to play Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic was also to play.
Earlier, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun had to withdraw from the tournament with an ankle injury incurred during his victory on Tuesday over Italian Simone Bolelli before he faced 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
Victor Hanescu of Romania also benefited from another player’s ill-fortune when his second-round opponent Dmitry Tursunov was forced to retire trailing 6-4, 6-6.
China’s Zheng Jie also reached the third round, beating Melanie Oudin of the US 6-3, 6-1.
Oudin, a former US Open quarter-finalist, won only 19 of 51 points on her serve and held just once.
On Wednesday, women’s top seed Serena Williams stamped out any hope of a rare French hat-trick of wins on Court Philippe Chatier with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against 19-year-old wildcard Caroline Garcia.
When Garcia won the second point of the match on a missed forehand by Williams, someone in the crowd yelled, “Allez, Caroline!” Not much to cheer for after that, though, as Williams hit six aces and won 32 of 39 service points to reach the third round.
The 19-year-old Garcia’s performance was good enough to inspire Andy Murray to write on Twitter that Garcia “is going to be No. 1 in the world one day.”
For now, it is Williams who holds that distinction in the rankings and she looks intent on keeping it that way.
“It’s important for me to win easily,” said the 15-time major champion, who won the title in 2002.
Among the past Grand Slam title winners hoping to join her in the third round with victories yesterday were Victoria Azarenka, Li Na and Petra Kvitova.
However, Serena and her sister Venus pulled out of the women’s doubles yesterday due to Venus’ lower back injury, organizers said.
The Americans had planned to team up at Roland Garros for the first time in three years, receiving a wild card from the tournament and a 12th seeding.
Venus, who has been struggling for most of the year with back pain, was a first-round loser to Poland’s Urszula Radwanska.
First-round doubles opponents, Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia advance directly to the second round
A quintet of Frenchmen led a home procession on Wednesday, but Roger Federer still threatens to rain on their parade after sauntering into the third round.
On Children’s Day at the claycourt Slam it was kid’s stuff for second seed Federer as he thrashed Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
While the Swiss is hugely popular with Parisian fans, it was the progress of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Julien Benneteau and Jeremy Chardy that drew the loudest cheers.
Tsonga, the sixth seed and regarded as France’s best hope for a first male Grand Slam singles champion since 1983, beat steady Finn Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-3 after saving a set point in the opening set to book a clash with Chardy.
Former semi-finalist Monfils, who was given a wild card as he continues to climb back up the rankings after a knee injury, was next up on Court Philippe Chatrier and followed on from his first-round epic against fifth seed Tomas Berdych with a four-set win over Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis.
The flamboyant Monfils was so taken by the atmosphere that at one changeover he grabbed his camera phone and filmed the crowd.
Simon, seeded 15, struggled to impose himself against Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, but hit form to win 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, while Benneteau survived a five-setter against German Tobias Kamke and will now face Federer.
Federer, who has helpfully landed in the opposite half of the draw to Nadal and Djokovic, was merciless against Devvarman, but was not getting ahead of himself.
“I think I’m playing OK, but definitely I think the next match is going to be sort of the big test for me to see exactly where I stand,” Federer said.
Last year’s beaten finalist Sara Errani, seeded five, beat fourth seed Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-1, and former champion Ana Ivanovic, seeded 14, beat Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson.
Seventh seed Petra Kvitova also ended the hopes of a home player, struggling past wild-card Aravane Rezai in three sets.
Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic had too much power for yet another Frenchman, Michael Llodra, winning 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to reach round three.
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