AFP
PARIS, MAY 30
CROATIA’S Ajla Tomljanovic upset third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the French Open on Friday. The defeat means that the tournament’s top three seeds have been ousted inside six days, with top seed Serena Williams losing in the second round and second seed Li Na departing in the first.
Ranked 72nd in the world, 21-year-old Tomljanovic will play the winner of the tie between Taylor Townsend of the United States and 14th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain for a place in the quarter-finals. Fourth seed Simona Halep of Romania is the top seeded player left in the draw, having reached the third round on Thursday. “After seeing the first two seeds go out you kinda feel like - hey I can do that too. I grew up with these girls that were doing that,” the Florida-based Tomljanovic said. “I went out out there and I really felt that I could win. It showed and that was how I won. I have a fourth round next and obviously happy, but I do not want to get too happy about it either.” Tomljanovic ended 2013 ranked 78th in the world, improving from 495th - the biggest ranking improvement by any player in the top 100.
This year she lost in the third round at the Australian Open but more recently failed to qualify for the main draw at Madrid and Rome in the buildup to Roland Garros. For Radwanska it was the first time she had failed to make it past the third round at a Grand Slam event since the 2012 French Open. Last year she was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, a quarter-finalist at the Australian and French Opens and made the fourth round at the US Open.
Watched by Croatian 1997 French Open winner Iva Majoli, Tomljanovic quickly took control of a match played in front of a sparse centre court crowd. She jumped out into a 5-1 before a shell-shocked Radwanska managed to break serve and get back to 5-4. The Croatian made no mistake on serve in the following game though and an early break in the second set sent her on the way to the biggest win of her career. Federer, Djokovic book spots in last 16.
Federer, Djokovic book spots in last 16
Agencies
PARIS, MAY 30
NOVAK Djokovic and Roger Federer are through to the fourth round of the French Open after victories over Marin Cilic and Dmitry Tursunov respectively.
Djokovic needed four sets to eliminate a determined Cilic, who made the Serb fight till the very end of the fourth set.
The No 2 seed eventually triumphed 6-3 6-2 6-7(2) 6-4, but he had led 4-1 in the fourth only for Cilic to fight back and threaten to take the match into a final set.
Swiss legend Federer, who won the title in 2009, is through to the last 16 after beating Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 7-5 6-7 (7/9) 6-2 6-4.
The 17-time grand slam champion found the going tough against Russian 31st seed Tursunov and needed more than three hours to grind out a victory.
Federer admitted after facing Diego Sebastian Schwartzman in the second round he had not felt relaxed but put that down to an unknown opponent.
That was not the case with Tursunov, who Federer had beaten in all four of their previous meetings, although they did have a tight tussle in Indian Wells in March.
The Russian is a talented ball-striker and matched Federer throughout the first set until the Swiss took his chance in the final game.
It looked like the second set would go exactly the same way when Tursunov slipped to 0-40 at 5-6 but this time he saved all three set points.
Federer had another in the tie-break but it was Tursunov who took his second opportunity with a searing forehand winner down the line.
Federer made the perfect start to the third set with a break in the opening game, and it became clear all was not well with Tursunov when he headed off court for lengthy treatment from the trainer after the third game.
But, although he wrapped up the third set relatively quickly, Federer continued to make heavy weather of the victory, finally taking just the fourth of 21 break points in the seventh game of the decider.
It gave Federer yet another piece of tennis history, the 32-year-old becoming the first man to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros for a 12th time.
Next he faces what is sure to be a highly-anticipated clash against Latvian crowd pleaser Ernests Gulbis, who got the better of Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek in straight sets 6-3 6-2 7-5.
