Muguruza advances to French Open QF with Tsurenko retirement

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Garbine Muguruza got a pass she didn’t expect to receive at the French Open Monday evening. The 2016 champion was ready to take on Lesia Tsurenko, but the Ukrainian had a bad beat suffering a strain in her upper left leg that brought the match to a halt after a 2-0 lead in the opening set. With the pain too great for Tsurenko to play, she was forced to retire from action in the fourth round on Court One at Roland Garros.

The two players have been at one another before splitting the series since 2017 with the Spaniard taking the Ukrainian last season at Wuhan. This was their first match on clay making for some interesting results. The Spaniard gave her best on Saturday to continue looking for another title at Roland Garros. Her strong win over Samantha Stosur made it clear of the world number three’s intentions to keep all aspects of her game in shape to make a quarterfinals appearance possible. Tsurenko played in her second round of 16 major and would look to possibly adding a quarterfinal to her list of career achievements.

Muguruza opened with a break to start the match but as they got underway in the second, Tsurenko showed an immense amount of pain in her upper leg that stopped play at 30-15. She took an unusual medical timeout leaving the court for a time. She returned to action forcing deuce but couldn’t secure a break which gave Muguruza the 2-0 lead. Tsurenko pressed at her left thigh which was tightly taped up in the third and before the first point could be decided, she called it quits after 20 minutes.

The unexpected win for Muguruza makes it essential to have all the energy possible to take on the upcoming rounds of the grand slam. In her way was returning French Open champion Maria Sharapova who also received a pass from her round of sixteen match against Serena Williams. There would be no doubt that both superstars of the sport would put together an exciting match on Wednesday.

Kasatkina upsets Wozniacki in straight sets at the French Open

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A match that was extended into two days ended with an upset at the French Open Monday. Darya Kasatkina had a tough start to the match that saw her edge in the opening set before somehow staying ahead in the final stages to upset second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(5) 6-3 on Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland Garros.

A third meeting this season had a huge moment in play at the world-famous clay courts with both looking to best their personal achievements in the second calendar slam. The Russian advanced past the third round in a hard fight against Maria Sakkari to surpass her back to back third round finishes in the past. Wozniacki was on a tear through her three matches taking down each opponent with two shutouts and allowing one game in a set to each. With a second quarterfinal finish last season, the Dane hoped to get back there but would not find her path in the round of 16 easy.

The 21-year-old broke Wozniacki before seeing the same done to her game by the world number two with a triple break. Kasatkina kept the pace set and followed until after the fifth game when the Dane worked her serve back into being offensively strong. She had a 4-3 lead before the 14^th seed leveled things back at four all. It was a race to the finish as they held serve to the tenth that had them going further on in the set. Wozniacki was the first to get her chance to get out of danger with a double break in the 11^th.

Kasatkina staved off going down in the match and evened the set at six apiece with a tiebreak to decide it all. The second seed pushed her way out to lead getting some free points on a double fault from the Russian. She rallied back taking a 3-1 hold before Wozniacki won the next three points the take the lead change. She opened up to two points breaking Kasatkina before she fought back to tie at five-all.

The 27-year-old impressed the crowd with a 27-shot rally with the Russian winning the point. She responded with a big point that made it 6-6 sending things to sudden death. The final point was decided by a bad return from the world number two that ended one hour and six minutes. Kasatkina came out where she wanted but her game was all over the place scoring 16 of 31 on the first serve and four of ten from the second. With the return side at half speed, the Russian knew that defending her being a set up on the second seed would be essential.

The light began to fade off the stadium as dusk was settling on Roland Garros but play began to open the second set where Kasatkina struck first. The Russian’s good groundstrokes gave her the lead followed by Wozniacki who kept the serve up. They asked to call the match until tomorrow but officials suggested they continue. They remained on serve through another four games until it was called to be suspended with the scored locked at 3-3.

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When play resumed the next day, Kasatkina served to open the seventh edging the Dane to hold. The eighth saw an attack from the 21-year-old who hunted down the breakpoint on Wozniacki’s service. She played point by point to force deuce where after two breaks and a long shot rally, the 14^th seed earned the 5-3 hold and the chance to serve for the match. It was just about over for the Dane who made errors in the final game giving Kasatkina the win after 1 hour and 57 minutes.

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Despite having strong offensive tactics at the start of the match, Wozniacki’s unforced errors and low second serve brought her to an abrupt end losing out on the chance to continue at winning the calendar grand slam. With the clay court season closing for the world number two, Kasatkina will progress into the quarterfinals on to prepare for her match against U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens.

Buzarnescu knocks down Svitolina in straight sets at French Open

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Mihaela Buzarnescu put together a major victory for herself at the French Open Friday. The world number 33 made it a very difficult day full of errors and frustrations for fourth seeded Elina Svitolina who was defeated in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 on Court One at Roland Garros. It brought an abrupt end to the Ukrainian’s run in a slam she thought she could capture.

 This was their first meeting between one another in a pivotal spot of the tournament. A victory for either one would put them into the second week of action. The Romanian had never seen the light of the main draw and was already in a position to be the dark horse of the section of her draw. Her first two matches ended in straight sets against her opponent with her ending in front of the fourth seed. Svitolina had been to the round of 16 three times in the hopes of making it there for a fourth time.

Thing were tight in the opening set with Svitolina leading the way through six until a change for the Romanian came in the second. It was there that Buzarnescu made her strike that earned her the first break of the match. She pulled together the next pair of wins giving her the set in 39 minutes that took the Ukrainian by surprise but not without issues to her own game. The 23-year-old won 9 of 18 from the first serve and returned 33 percent of shots. With a 14-3 run of winners for the Romanian, it was a set that Svitolina had to quickly put behind her in order to remain in the tournament.

Buzarnescu extended her streak to four games to start the second set with a service hold. Svitolina put one down of her own in response to not let further ground be lost. She got a key break in the third that put her in the lead for the first time. The fourth saw an attack for control by the world number four as she wanted to widen the gap securing ground in the process. Despite having the serve, Buzarnescu fought to keep things leveled, doing so after a few breaks on deuce.

They continued on the path as Svitolina tried with all her energy to regain a footing in the set but fell in a second straight loss to Buzarnescu. After a few more breaks in the books, Svitolina got the result she wanted evening the set at three all but her mission was far from completed. She remained a game down as Buzarnescu inched closer to an upset of the fourth seed with two games left to attain.

The ninth was a must win for the Ukrainian as she gained her opportunity to close out the set on her own terms. It became possible after Buzarnescu made a double fault on serve and racked up too many errors that brought her dominance to a stop. After the game was over, she threw her racket in disgust but played into the tenth with her playing defense. She made it hard for Svitolina to contain the service game earning a break point chance that went into the net forcing deuce for the fourth seed.

Achieving the AD point was still a difficult task for the Ukrainian as she saw Buzarnescu hit back big returns gaining her second break that gave her the win and a five all tie. Svitolina showed clear signs of frustration as her returns were ending up in the net far too frequently making it easy for Buzarnescu to get the 6-5 lead on serve. Svitolina stood at a point she didn’t want to be in the tournament needing something great to come from her serve. She started with a winner and ended up on the right side of a 25-shot rally that Buzarnescu blew up with a ball landing long of the baseline. It gave the fourth seed a shot for game point which was forced to deuce by the Romanian on a net front winner. It seemed like all hope was lost for Svitolina as Buzarnescu earned her first match point landed one into the net ending 1 hour and 37 minutes and a huge victory for the 30-year-old.

While she kept her first serve to a solid average, the 31 winners she put together blew a gash in Svitolina’s offense. The Ukrainian ended with 46 percent of points won on the first serve and a dismal 26 of 67 points from her return game. With that and 29 errors, it brought a streak to a close for the 23-year-old who hasn’t lost early since 2014. While she tries to put it behind her and prepare for the next surface on the calendar, Buzarnescu would go into Sunday facing U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys.