Roland Garros Day 3: Seeds Fall Like Figs
After the shock of Wawrinka, the 3rd seed of the tournament, being eliminated, the 3rd day of Roland Garros continued to witness more surprises when Li Na, Dimitrov, Almagro... had to stop playing.
Yesterday could be called a close-seed day. First and most shocking was the fall of Li Na, the second seed of the tournament and also the player considered Serena Williams' biggest rival in this tournament. The opponent who sent the Chinese player home was the home player Kristina Mladenovic. Kristina defeated Li Na 7-5 in the first set, then lost 3-6 in the second set. However, in the third set, with the enthusiastic cheers of home fans and a slight injury that Li Na suffered, Kristina won a resounding 6-1 victory to advance to the second round.
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| Li Na had to stop playing on the third day of competition. |
Speaking at a post-match press conference, Li Na said with tears in her eyes: “I myself did not believe that I was eliminated. I have been training hard and had great hopes for this tournament. However, as you can see, today I was unlucky in my shots and Kristina came out with great excitement.”
Also yesterday, another Chinese female tennis player, Shuai Peng, lost 0-2 to the American No. 15 seed Sloane Stephens. Meanwhile, No. 13 seed Caroline Wozniacki lost 1-2 to the lesser-known Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
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| Dimitrov was eliminated by Karlovic after 3 sets |
In the men's singles, the big surprise came when rising Spaniard Nicolas Almagro had to retire due to injury after 5 sets against Jack Sock. Dimitrov, seed 11, Maria Sharapova's boyfriend, was also eliminated by Karlovic after 3 sets. Among the familiar names who had to pack their bags and go home were Lleyton Hewitt (lost to Carlos Barlocq 1-3), Tommy Haas, seed 16 (retired).
Round 2 (May 28), notable matches
Men's Singles
Jeremy Chardy - Novak Djokovic [2]
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [13] - Jurgen Melzer
Alejandro Gonzalez - Gilles Simon
Diego Schwartzman - Roger Federer [4]
Tomas Berdych [6] - Aleksandr Nedovyesov
Mikhail Youzhny - Radek Stepanek
Women's Singles
Anna Schmiedlova - Venus Williams [29]
Tsvetana Pironkova - Maria Sharapova [7]
Serena Williams [1] - Garbine Muguruza
Agnieszka Radwanska [3] - Karolina Pliskova
Varvara Lepchenko - Angelique Kerber [8]
Yvonne Meusburger - Samantha Stosur [19]
Mona Barthel - Sabine Lisicki [16]
Some notable results of round 1
Men's Singles
David Ferrer [5] - Igor Sijsling: 6-4 6-3 6-1
Gael Monfils [23] - Victor Hanescu: 6-2 4-6 6-4 6-2
Richard Gasquet [12] - Bernard Tomic: 6-2 6-1 7-5
Andy Murray [7] - Andrey Golubev: 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-3
Ivo Karlovic - Grigor Dimitrov [11]: 6-4 7-5 7-6(4)
Fernando Verdasco [24] - Michael Llodra: 6-2 7-6(4) 7-6(3)
Juan Monaco - Lucas Pouille: 6-3 6-1 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber [28] - Pere Riba: 7-5 6-4 6-1
Women's Singles
Simona Halep [4] - Alisa Kleybanova: 6-0 6-2
Ana Ivanovic [11] - Caroline Garcia: 6-1 6-3
Kristina Mladenovic - Na Li [2]: 7-5 3-6 6-1
Sara Errani [10] - Madison Key: 7-5 3-6 6-1
Sloane Stephens [15] - Shuai Peng: 6-4 7-6(8)
Yanina Wickmayer - Caroline Wozniacki[13]:7-6(5) 4-6 6-2
According to Bongdaplus
