Big-spenders AS Monaco were given a scare in the Coupe de France on Sunday before a late Yannick Ferreira Carrasco winner eased them past third-tier Vannes OC 3-2 and into the round-of-32.
Top-flight leaders Paris Saint-Germain had their match at Stade Brestois 29 postponed until today at the weather-hit Brittany club, while Olympique de Marseille, LOSC Lille Metropole, Grinodins de Bordeaux, Olympique Lyonnais, En Avant de Guingamp, Stade Rennais, Montpellier Herault and AC Ajaccio all advanced.
Ligue 1 clubs Nantes, beaten 2-0 by OGC Nice, and Evian Thonon Gaillard, downed 1-0 by SC Bastia, were knocked out by top-flight rivals.
Photo: AFP
“It was a difficult match against a very good Nantes team,” Nice midfielder Eric Bautheac said after their 2-0 win. “We finished 2013 well and have started 2014 well, which is good because it’s the end of our bad run of results. We’ve started the year in perfect fashion and have put our problems behind us.”
Monaco’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao canceled out a first-minute strike by Hendrick Cakin 60 seconds later, only for the hosts to move ahead again nine minutes before halftime through 21-year-old French striker Yannick Aguemon.
Falcao’s compatriot James Rodriguez tied the match just before the break, before Belgian midfielder Ferreira Carrasco avoided extra-time and a potentially embarrassing exit with the winning goal for the Ligue 1 high-flyers four minutes from the conclusion of a spirited tie.
Monaco took a squad assembled for a budget of 130 million euros (US$177 million) to the west of France for a fixture against a Vannes outfit put together for just 3 million euros.
In the final match of the weekend, Olympique de Marseille needed extra-time goals from Pierre-Andre Gignac to see off the challenge of Stade de Reims 2-0 at the Stade Velodrome.
A tight match on the south coast was broken open by 94th-minute and 115th-minute strikes by Gignac.
Elsewhere, holders Bordeaux ground down third-tier US Raon-l’Etape 2-1, Lille rallied to down Amiens SC 3-1, helped by a brace from Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou, and Montpellier defeated lower-tier Rodez AF 2-0.
Seven-time French champions Lyon thrashed La Suze-sur-Sarthe 6-1, where Christian Grenier, Alexandre Lacazette and Bafetimbi Gomis each scored twice.
On Saturday, third-tier AS Yzeure caused a shock by knocking out top-flight Lorient 1-0.
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Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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