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We are about to enter the second week of the French Open and there will be some big names to watch out for as the quarter-finals loom, most notably former men’s champion Roger Federer and defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova.
These two continued their French Open campaigns with similarly easy wins but will come up against tough opposition in the fourth round as the tournament reaches its climax with the men’s and women’s finals next weekend.
Federer’s bid for a second title continued on Friday night (AEST) when he defeated Damir Dzumhur in straight sets, while Sharapova ended Australian interest in the women’s singles with a similarly easy victory against Samantha Stosur.
The Swiss will next face Gael Monfils, who has won four of the last seven meetings between the pair including their last two, for a shot at a potential quarter-final showdown against compatriot Stan Wawrinka.
Sharapova, on the other hand, will face the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova for a quarter-final berth after the latter defeated Germany’s Sabine Lisicki to match her fourth round performance from last year.
Following the exit of third seed Simona Halep, Sharapova remains on track to reach the final for a fourth consecutive year, but she may have to defeat one of her career-long rivals in the semi-finals if she is to get there.
That rival is 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic, who needed just under one hour to end the impressive run of Croatia’s Donna Vekic, winning in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3.
It was a stark contrast to her first two matches, in which she needed to come from a set down to defeat Yaroslava Shvedova and Misaki Doi. Prior to this year Ivanovic had not won a match at the French Open after losing the first set.
Next for the Serb is Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova, who disposed of former doubles partner Elena Vesnina in straight sets in her third round match.
The head-to-head between the pair is one-apiece but they haven’t met since the 2011 Australian Open, when Makarova defeated Ivanovic in a first round thriller where the deciding set lasted 18 games.
The Russian left-hander has developed a habit of defeating the big names at Grand Slam tournaments since upsetting Serena Williams at the 2012 Australian Open, denying her a quarter-final showdown against Maria Sharapova in the process.
By contrast, Ivanovic has not gone past the fourth round at Roland Garros since claiming the title seven years ago, and has only reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals in the intervention, at the 2012 US Open and last year’s Australian Open.
If all goes to plan, then glamour rivals Ivanovic and Sharapova will clash in the semi-finals. It was at this stage in 2007 when the Serb thrashed the Russian to reach her first Grand Slam final before going down to Justine Henin in straight sets.
The French also have a lot to cheer about, after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Alize Cornet advanced to the fourth round, the latter for the first time, courtesy of contrasting third round victories.
Cornet came from a set down to defeat Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in three sets, and will now face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the fourth round with both former junior French Open champions eyeing their first Grand Slam quarter-final.
The other bottom half fourth round match will see veteran Italian Flavia Pennetta face off against rising Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who reached the quarter-finals last year after shocking defending champion Serena Williams in the second round.
Tsonga, meanwhile, defeated Spaniard Pablo Andujar to set up a showdown with fourth seed Tomas Berdych, who defeated another Frenchman in Benoit Paire in four sets in his third round match.
They were followed into the fourth round by another Frenchman in Gilles Simon, who defeated compatriot Nicolas Mahut to match his best French Open result from 2011 and 2013. Next for the 2009 Australian Open quarter-finalist is Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka, a straight-sets winner over American Steve Johnson.
The other bottom half fourth round match will see Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who received a walkover into the last 16 after his third round opponent, Benjamin Becker, withdrew, face Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili for a quarter-final berth.
These bottom-half matches in both the men’s and women’s draws will determine the shape of the quarter-finals, with the top half in both divisions still to be played out on Monday night (AEST).
Some of the favourites are still there, but can they stay alive in the tournament or will one or a few of them crash to an unlikely upset?
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