Paris : Ana Ivanovic made the French Open quarter-finals for the first time since her 2008 title run Sunday where she’ll face Elina Svitolina, the first Ukrainian to make the last eight. But defending champion Maria Sharapova’s scheduled last-16 clash against Lucie Safarova was pushed back until Monday after rain caused a lengthy stoppage at a chilly Roland Garros.
The Russian second seed now faces the prospect of playing matches on two successive days with the first two women’s quarter-finals already programmed for Tuesday.
Seventh-seeded Serb Ivanovic defeated Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in January, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to book her eighth career Grand Slam quarter-final.
Watched again by German World Cup winning football star Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 27-year-old Ivanovic shrugged off a two and a half hour rain stoppage to secure her third three-set win in four rounds in Paris.
The 20-year-old Svitolina beat fellow former Roland Garros junior champion Alize Cornet on a windy, chilly Court Philippe Chatrier 6-2, 7-6 (11/9). “It’s amazing to be in the quarter-finals again. To be honest, coming into the tournament I didn’t really expect that at all,” said Ivanovic.
Svitolina, seeded 19, is only the second Ukrainian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final after Kateryna Bondarenko made the last eight at the 2009 US Open.
It was Svitolina’s first win over Cornet in three meetings and the result ended French hopes in the women’s singles for another year. She displayed nerves of steel to achieve victory, failing to serve out the tie in the 10th game of the second set and then allowing five match points to slip through her fingers.
However, she secured victory on her sixth match point when Cornet went long with a backhand, her 42nd unforced error of the windswept tie. Svitolina will take a 6-0 losing record into her clash with Ivanovic, a run that includes a second round loss in Paris last year and again on clay in Madrid earlier this month. “I hope I can serve better, of course, because I was serving not so good against her in Madrid,” said Svitolina. With four men’s last-16 ties still to be played on Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen, it was decided that Sharapova and Safarova will play their fourth round on Monday instead. Sunday’s other fourth round clash between 33-year-old Italian Flavia Pennetta, who has never played in the French Open quarter-finals, and Garbine Muguruza, the Spanish 21st seed, was also shelved.
[alert type=”e.g. warning, danger, success, info” title=””]
Sania-Martina pair storms into quarters; Paes, Bopanna ousted
Paris: Sania Mirza remained the only Indian surviving in the French Open by cruising to the quarterfinals with partner Martina Hingis while seasoned Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna bowed out after third round defeats, here on Sunday. Top seeds and hot favourites, Sania and Martina scored a thumping 6-1, 6-4 win over 14th seed Italian pair of Karin Knapp and Roberta Vinci in the women’s doubles third round of the Clay Court Grand Slam tournament. Serving for the match at 5-2, Sania and Martina dropped serve but returned to close the match in their favour. In the men’s doubles, India’s challenge ended with the defeats of Paes and Bopanna. Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea, seeded ninth, went down fighting 3-6, 7-6(7), 3-6 against fifth seed team of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horea Tecau. 10th seeds Paes and Canada’s Daniel Nestor suffered a tame 2-6, 4-6 defeat against sixth seed Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini. Bopanna and Paes’ defeat meant that their campaigns are over at Roland Garros this year, having bowed out of the mixed doubles event earlier.
Paes and Hingis had lost in the second round while Bopanna and his partner Yaroslava Shevadova were ousted in the first round. Sania had also suffered a shock first round defeat in the opening round of the mixed doubles event with top seeded Brazilian partner Bruno Soares. PTI
[/alert]
