Serena, Kvitova survive; Wozniacki bows out

Schiavone prevails over Kuznetsova in the third-longest women’s match at Roland Garros

May 28, 2015 09:21 pm | Updated 11:43 pm IST - PARIS

Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova survived a scare at the French Open on Thursday, both rallying from a set down to reach the third round.

Serena overcame a strong challenge from world no. 105 Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

The 33-year-old, top-seeded American dropped the first set and faced break points against her unheralded 21-year-old opponent in the second, but clawed back in time to go through.

“I lost at the same stage (second round) last year, and didn’t want it to happen again. It wasn’t a great match but I won. I was battling with myself, but it was better in the last set,” Serena said.

She will next face two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who eased past Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. The Belarusian is back in business after losing much of last year to a bout of depression and injuries.

In cold, blustery conditions, fourth seed Kvitova made it through to the last-32 with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa. It was yet another tough match for the Wimbledon champion who was taken the distance by Kiwi Marina Erakovic in the opening match.

The Czech Fed Cup winner, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2012, dropped serve twice in the opening set before the more consistent Soler-Espinosa took the tie-break 7-4.

In the second set, Kvitova hung on grimly before finding her range with some solid ground-strokes. Though she broke to take a 4-3 lead, it proved shortlived as Soler-Espinosa was back on level terms in the next game. However, Kvitova won the next two games to take the match to the decider.

The fourth seed took command early on in the third set before back-to-back breaks saw her book a berth in the third round. “It was a tough match again. The second round of a Grand Slam is always difficult,” said Kvitova.

She will now meet Irina-Camelia Begu for a place in the last-16 after the Romanian 30th seed defeated Ana Konjuh of Croatia.

In the day’s major upset, fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki lost 6-4, 7-6(4) to Julia Goerges of Germany. Goerges, who has fallen to 72 in the rankings after rising to the top-20 in 2012, battled back from a break behind to clinch the opening set. She then broke Wozniacki’s serve at 5-5 in the second, only to falter when serving for the match.

Goerges, however, played a solid tiebreaker to send the Dane packing early for the second successive year after she fell in the first round in 2014.

Like Kvitova, German 10th seed Andrea Petkovic was on the verge of elimination before bouncing back to beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Sara Errani, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the 2012 final, too, had to claw back to defeat German youngster Carina Witthoeft 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

There were slow-burning fireworks out on Court One where Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova battled in what turned out to be the third-longest women’s singles match in the history of the French Open. It lasted three hours and 50 minutes before Schiavone staggered past the winning post 6-7(11), 7-5, 10-8.

The two were also involved in an epic encounter at the 2011 Australian Open when Schiavone won 16-14 in the deciding set after four hours and 44 minutes, the longest match in women’s Grand Slam history.

Another seed to fall was No. 12 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who lost to Andreea Mitu of Romania.

Nadal breezes through

In men’s action, defending champion Rafael Nadal stayed on course for a 10th French Open title with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win over compatriot Nicolas Almagro.

“I am very happy. I played a great match and was very solid,” said Nadal, who has now defeated Almagro 13 times out of 14.

Teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis gave a glimpse of the potential future of the sport when he saved three match points to beat fellow Australian Bernard Tomic 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 to make the third round of a major for the first time.

Top seed Djokovic survived a worrying injury scare to reach the third round with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Djokovic’s win over the 33-year-old Muller was his 24th consecutive victory this year. The Serb is chasing his first-ever Roland Garros title which will help him complete a career Grand Slam.

However, he needed a medical time-out while leading 5-4 in the second set for treatment on what appeared to be a right groin strain.

It didn’t affect him too much as he quickly wrapped up the second set with a service game to love. He won in just an hour and 45 minutes.

Nadal edged ahead with what proved to be the crucial break for a 2-1 lead in the first set. The 28-year-old took the lead again in the first game of the second while Almagro had to wait until the third game for his first break opportunity which was quickly snuffed out.

Almagro gradually wilted and despite breaking back for 3-5, Nadal retrieved it immediately to take a two-set lead. It was over as a contest at that point as Nadal, with breaks in the second and fourth games, raced to his 68th win in the tournament.

On court seven, the 19-year-old Kokkinakis, making his Roland Garros debut on a wildcard, came back from 2-5 down in the decider to defeat 27th seed Tomic. Kokkinakis fired 19 aces and 71 winners.

US Open champion Marin Cilic reached the third round for the fourth successive year. The ninth-seeded Croatian fired 38 winners in a 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-1 win over Italian qualifier Andrea Arnaboldi.

Cilic will face Argentine 23rd seed Leonardo Mayer, who beat Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-1 for a place in the last-16. This year’s second round featured a record 19 men over the age of 30.

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