There will be a brand new Grand Slam women’s champion crowned at this year’s French Open, after four former winners had their shot at another major title extinguished on a day of upsets at Roland Garros.
The first former Grand Slam champion to fall was 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who went down in three sets to former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
This was their sixth meeting at a major and their third consecutive, having also met at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. This, however, was their first ever meeting on clay.
Given Kuznetsova did salute here (by defeating Dinara Safina in the final) in 2009, many thought she was a good chance of adding to that success as well as her maiden effort at the 2004 US Open.
However, it was Wozniacki who came out all guns blazing, taking the opening set 6-1 to seemingly have one foot into the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2010.
But the Russian would hit back to take the second set 6-4, before the Dane rediscovered her form from the opening set to run away with the decider 6-2 to match her best run in Paris, achieved seven years ago.
The 26-year-old will now fancy her chances of reaching her third major final (and first outside of the US Open), having been drawn into the same quarter as Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur.
Of the three, Stosur lasted the longest, but a hand injury conspired against her as she went down in three sets to young Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 33-year-old having stormed through the opening set 6-2.
(AFP PHOTO / PAUL CROCK)
The 2011 US Open champion had not dropped a set in her opening three matches and was expected to make light work of the 19-year-old, whom she had previously beaten in three sets at last year’s Rio Olympics.
But Ostapenko would lift her game in the final two sets to advance to her first Grand Slam quarter-final, while for Stosur, the loss ensured she would lose her title as Australia’s highest-ranked female to Daria Gavrilova when the rankings are updated next Monday.
The Gold Coaster will also drop out of the top 30 for the first time since early 2009, and could miss Wimbledon if the hand injury turns out to be worse than first thought.
Next to fall was defending champion Garbine Muguruza, whose match against local favourite Kristina Mladenovic fell on the first anniversary of her stunning win against Serena Williams in last year’s decider.
Spurred on by the local crowd, Mladenovic took the opening set 6-1, but the Spaniard would hit back, scoring two breaks to take the second 6-2 and force a one-set shootout.
In the end, the Frenchwoman took the final set 6-3 to progress to her first quarter-final at Roland Garros, and boost the country’s chances of producing its first home-grown champion since Mary Pierce in 2000.
While the locals was appreciative of Mladenovic’s efforts, as you would expect from a home crowd cheering on a local hero at any major tournament, dethroned champion Muguruza was not given so much of a send-off, being booed by sections of the crowd as she left the court.
The Spaniard will drop out of the world’s top ten when the rankings are updated next week, and the result means she has now not reached a final at any level for over twelve months.
Mladenovic’s next opponent will be Timea Bacsinszky, who completed the day of upsets by sending 10th seed and eight-time major champion Venus Williams packing in three sets.
The 2015 semi-finalist, who turns 28 later this week, dropped a closely-contested opening set but romped through the final two sets for the loss of just three games to advance to the last eight at Roland Garros for the third consecutive year.
Of the four top-half quarter-finalists, she is the only one to have reached the last four in Paris, and will fancy her chances of repeating her run from two years ago when she faces Mladenovic tonight (AEST).
Also from this half of the draw, only Caroline Wozniacki has made a major final (both at the US Open), and none of the four have previously reached the title match at Roland Garros.
(Tatiana / Flickr)
This means there will be a new French Open finalist this Saturday night (AEST), and Wozniacki would have to be the favourite to reach the championship match given she is the most experienced of the quartet.
Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal romped through to the quarter-finals with straight-sets victories over Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Roberto Bautista-Agut respectively.
Djokovic next faces Dominic Thiem, a straight-sets winner over Horacio Zeballos, in a rematch of last year’s semi-final, while Nadal faces compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta, who edged Milos Raonic in a thrilling five-setter in which the final set lasted 14 games.
In the all-French affair that was held over from Saturday night, Gael Monfils advanced after Richard Gasquet retired at 3-4 down in the third set; it was one set all with Monfils having taken the opening set in a tiebreak.
‘La Monf’ was due to play 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka overnight.
In an early result from Day 9, Simona Halep has advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time since reaching the final in 2014, thrashing Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
The 25-year-old has been the standout female player of the clay court season so far, reaching the semi-finals in Stuttgart, retaining her Madrid title and also reaching the final in Rome where she lost to Elina Svitolina.
Accordingly, she entered Roland Garros as the title favourite and if she can live up to expectations, she will leave Paris not only with her maiden Grand Slam title, but also with the world number one ranking.
The Romanian has not dropped a set in her four matches to date.
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