Staff Reporter.
French hopes of a Roland Garros singles’ champion were all but extinguished as Russian Anna Blinkova sent fifth seed Caroline Garcia tumbling out with a 4-6 6-3 7-5 second-round victory on Wednesday.
Blinkova, who had already knocked Garcia out in Paris in 2019, prevailed on her ninth match point to end a tussle that lasted nearly three hours.
The world number 56 double faulted twice on match point as nerves got to her, but she eventually ended it with a powerful serve to set up a meeting with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
With Garcia gone, the French women are without a seed in the singles’ draw while none of the French men were among the top-ranked.
On a sun-kissed Court Philippe Chatrier, where most of the ticket holders had opted for lunch over tennis, Garcia broke for a 2-1 lead in a strong start to her bid to claim consecutive wins on clay for the first time this season.
She did not face a single break point in the first set and stole Blinkova’s serve in the first game of the next set, only for her Russian opponent to break straight back.
Garcia conceded another break in the fourth game with a double fault and a third one in the fifth as Blinkova blitzed through the set despite facing some late resistance.
Blinkova pounced early in the decider and served for the match at 5-4, only for Garcia to save match points to level for 5-5.
She saved other match points at 6-5 after dropping her serve but Blinkova finally got a first serve in to end Garcia’s campaign.
Kasatkina dazzles with trick shot in win
Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina produced an early candidate for shot of the tournament during a classy 6-3 6-4 defeat of former runner-up Marketa Vondrousova to sweep into the third round.
Kasatkina was coming under pressure from the left-handed Czech at 2-3 down in the second set and 30-30 and looked about to go break point down as she chased back to retrieve a superb lob volley by Vondrousova.
But the 26-year-old conjured a magical between the legs shot that flashed by a stunned opponent who had advanced to the net.
She duly held serve with a forehand winner but Vondrousova, who reached the final in 2019 when she lost to Ash Barty, stuck to her task and had a point to lead 5-3 before Kasatkina hit back to reel off the last three games.
Kasatkina lost to Iga Swiatek in the semifinals at Roland Garros last year and remains one of the most inventive players on the women’s circuit and is gearing up for another deep run.
Asked on court about her ‘tweener’ Kasatkina said it was nothing to do with luck.
“When I was a kid I was at home practising this shot against the wall, hitting the wall, lobbing myself and playing the tweener all the time,” she said.
“Maybe two hours a day, so it’s not luck. I practised this shot a lot and finally it paid off.”
Kasatkina will play 69th-ranked American Peyton Stearns in the next round.
Sabalenka tames qualifier
World number two Aryna Sabalenka fought off a determined challenge from fellow Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich to move into the third round with a 7-5 6-2 victory as she eyes the world number one spot.
The 25-year-old, who will take over top spot from Poland’s Iga Swiatek with victory at the Paris Grand Slam, did not have an easy start with qualifier Shymanovich, ranked 214th, matching her power with every groundstroke.
Shymanovich started moving her opponent around, playing the angles and forcing her to the net with audacious drop shots as she tried to stop Sabalenka imposing her own rhythm on the match.
The second seed wasted two set points at 6-5 but bagged the set on her third opportunity, chasing down yet another drop shot from her opponent.
She took a two-game lead at the start of the second set but had to fight tooth and nail for every single point before sealing victory on her second match point.
Svitolinai scripts own comeback win
Three-times quarterfinalist Elina Svitolina took a leaf out of her husband Gael Monfils’ playbook following the local hero’s epic win over Sebastian Baez a day earlier to script her own comeback and down Australian Storm Hunter 2-6 6-3 6-1.
She then waded into the debate around Novak Djokovic and said the world number three should have the right to express his opinion.
“If you stand for something, you think that this is the way, you should say,” Svitolina said.
“If you’re with a friend sitting, talking, you’re going to say your opinion, he is going to say his opinion. So why not?”
Svitolina, who has called for a ban on Russian and Belarusian tennis players over Moscow’s 2022 invasion of her country, admitted she did not know the politics of Serbia.
“But coming back to the politics in sports, as I think all Ukrainians mention, it’s connected very much because we are all people. We all know the politics of our own country a bit, the way you hear something here, something there,” Svitolina said.
“For me it’s just part of human life, politics, sports, you know, different things.”
Ostapenko fails again, Pegula gets walkover win
Former champion Jelena Ostapenko had not made second week at Roland Garros in her last five appearances and the 2017 winner’s disappointing run continued as unseeded American Peyton Stearns prevailed 6-3 1-6 6-2 in their second-round clash.
The feisty Latvian’s exit along with 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova’s defeat by Lesia Tsurenko a day earlier means holder Iga Swiatek is the only remaining winner of the Suzanne Lenglen Cup remaining in the women’s draw.
World number three Jessica Pegula, who is hoping to hoist her maiden Grand Slam trophy on the Parisian clay, advanced into the third round after her ailing Italian opponent Camila Giorgi retired after losing the opening set 6-2.