Thiem Cruises Into Second Week At Roland Garros

Thiem Cruises Into Second Week At Roland Garros

Source link

Tearful Muguruza unhappy with 'tough' Paris crowd

Defending champion Garbine Muguruza was unhappy with a “really tough” crowd after defeat by home favourite Kristina Mladenovic at the French Open.

The Spaniard, 23, lost 6-1 3-6 6-3 on a packed Suzanne Lenglen Court which gave its full backing to Mladenovic.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams’ defeat by Swiss Timea Bacsinszky means a new major champion will be crowned in Paris on Saturday.

“It’s a very painful defeat here in the French Open,” said a tearful Muguruza.

“The crowd was really tough today. I can’t really understand. I don’t know how to explain.

“If you had been in my shoes on the court, I think you would have understood.

“I don’t know what people were expecting. I’d rather not say anything more.”

• Brilliant Nadal into the last eight
• Murray set for Khachanov test
• Live scores & schedule

Mladenovic, 24, served 16 double faults but came through amid a raucous atmosphere on the second show court at Roland Garros.

No Frenchwoman has won the title at Roland Garros since Mary Pierce in 2000.

Thirteenth seed Mladenovic joins Bacsinszky, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the last eight, with only three of the top 10 seeds still in the draw.

Muguruza, 23, left her media conference briefly because she was so upset, before returning to reveal she was glad to relieve the pressure of being French Open champion.

“I love this tournament no matter what happens,” said Muguruza, who claimed not to have been distracted by Mladenovic’s cries of “Forza!” after the Spaniard’s errors.

“I’m going to be super happy to come back.

“Everybody is going to stop bothering me asking me about this tournament, so it’s going to be a little bit like, ‘Whew, let’s keep going.'”

Second seed Karolina Pliskova, third seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Elina Svitolina will aim to reach the quarter-finals when they play their fourth-round matches on Monday.

Pliskova and Svitolina won their rain-delayed third-round matches on Sunday, while former world number one Wozniacki reached the last eight.

Williams, the 10th seed, fought back from 5-1 down to take the opening set against Bacsinszky.

But 27-year-old Bacsinszky broke Williams’ serve in the first game of the second set as she won 12 of the last 15 games in the match.

Wozniacki, 26, reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2010 with a 6-1 4-6 6-2 win over Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, the eighth seed and 2009 champion.

Pliskova, the Czech, beat Carina Witthoft of Germany 7-5 6-1, while Svitolina of Ukraine overcame Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4 7-5.

Source link

French Open 2017: Andy Murray set for Karen Khachanov test at Roland Garros

World number one Andy Murray will face up-and-coming Russian Karen Khachanov in the fourth round of the French Open at about 11:30 BST on Monday.

Top seed Murray, 30, is trying to reach the last eight in Paris for the sixth time in the past seven years.

Khachanov, 21, is ranked 53rd and plays his first Grand Slam last-16 match after beating American John Isner.

“Mentally I feel pretty good just now,” Briton Murray said after beating Juan Martin del Potro in round three.

Having struggled with fitness and form during much of the year, the Scot played superbly to see off the Argentine in straight sets on Saturday.

“After each round, I’m not thinking about winning,” he said.

“I didn’t come here with the mindset that I’m definitely going to go a long way.

“I was going to try and just get through the first round and hopefully feel better each day. That’s been the case so far.”

• Murray column: Beating Del Potro, player box etiquette and life in Paris
• Live scores & schedule

Khachanov poses a new challenge for the Wimbledon champion, and it will be the Russian’s first match against any of the very top names in the sport.

He said: “That is what we are looking for, to play on the big arenas like here, centre court, and to play against world number one. I’m really looking forward for it.”

Khachanov was born in Moscow but has trained in Barcelona for the past three years, during which time he has risen from outside the world’s top 400 to become a fixture around the top 50.

The 6ft 6in right-hander has plenty of power, as he showed in seeing off big-serving Isner in the third round.

That followed his best win to date over 13th seed Tomas Berdych.

“I practised with him before he got on to the tour when he was like 350, and he was really good,” said Murray.

“Big, strong guy. Generates a lot of power. He’s also got a big serve.”

Khachanov has hit 29 aces to Murray’s 16 in the tournament, and has spent an hour less on court at just under the eight-hour mark.

Murray will head into the match with a very different mindset, however, following his impressive performance against Del Potro.

“I believe in myself, so even when things aren’t going well, I believe I can turn it around,” said Murray.

“The five-set format has definitely helped that, so I have maybe not been as anxious going into some of the matches, because I know there is some time to turn it around.”

Source link

French Open: Scot Jamie Murray reaches quarter-finals for first time

Scotland’s Jamie Murray has reached the quarter-finals of the French Open doubles for the first time.

The 31-year-old and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, 35, beat Rohan Bopanna of India and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 7-6 6-2 on Sunday.

Murray and Soares will face the USA’s Donald Young and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez for a place in the semi-finals.

In 2016, Murray and Soares won the Australian and US Open doubles titles.

At fifth, the pair are now the highest seeds left in the men’s doubles competition at Roland Garros.

“It’s a big opportunity for us now to progress far in the tournament,” Murray said.

“We’ll just do our best to focus on each match and fight for every point like we did today.

“It was a real battle out there, especially the first set was really close, a really high level from everyone I thought. We’re really proud of ourselves for what we managed to do today.”

Source link

French Open 2017: Rafael Nadal cruises into quarter-finals at Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal continued his superb form with a dominant 6-1 6-2 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut to move easily into the French Open quarter-finals.

The Spaniard, 31, is looking to become the first man to win 10 titles at a single Grand Slam event.

His victory was not quite as simple as Friday’s incredible 6-0 6-1 6-0 defeat of Nikoloz Basilashvili but fourth seed Nadal has not dropped a set yet.

He will now face either Milos Raonic or Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight.

• Live scores and schedule

Margaret Court is the only player to have won 10 or more titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973.

Nine-time winner Nadal now has a 76-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros with his only defeats coming against Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals.

It is the 11th time he has reached the quarter-finals at the French Open – a record shared with Roger Federer.

World number two Djokovic could match that record when he faces Albert Ramos-Vinolas later on Sunday. Djokovic and Nadal are seeded to meet in the semi-finals.

Japan’s eighth seed Kei Nishikori survived a scare to beat unseeded South Korean Hyeon Chung in five sets.

Nishikori, 27, needed almost four hours to win 7-5 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 0-6 6-4 in a third-round match finished on Sunday after the previous day’s rain delay.

“I think the rain helped me a lot, because I was really down in the fourth set and mentally I wasn’t ready,” said Nishikori, whose only Grand Slam final appearance came when he lost at the 2014 US Open.

“I knew I had to change something to beat him, so I think I made some adjustments to make it a little better than yesterday.”

Big-serving American John Isner, seeded 21, was knocked out in his third-round match by Karen Khachanov of Russia, who won 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3).

The 21-year-old will now face British world number one Andy Murray in the fourth round on Monday.

French 15th seed Gael Monfils reached the fourth round for a seventh time when compatriot Richard Gasquet withdrew from their rain-delayed match with a thigh injury.

Monfils, 30, won 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 4-3 to set up a last-16 meeting with third seed Stan Wawrinka.

Inspired to play tennis?

Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.

Source link

Rafael Nadal vs Roberto Bautista Agut Roland Garros 2017 Preview

An all-Spaniard clash is one of the highlights in the men’s tournament on Sunday with tournament favourite Rafael…

Source link

Novak Djokovic vs Albert Ramos Vinolas Roland Garros 2017 Preview

Novak Djokovic is through to the fourth round of the French Open as he looks to defend his title but it feels like major improvements…

Source link

Garbine Muguruza vs Kristina Mladenovic Roland Garros 2017 Preview and Prediction

The women’s draw being decimated by absences and struggles of the elite has made it tough for many popcorn matches…

Source link