Most Popular Sports
All Sports
Show All

Women's round-up: Caroline Wozniacki out, Heather Watson beaten

Maxwell Ward

Updated 29/11/2016 at 15:17 GMT

Fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki was beaten in straight sets by the world number 72 Julia Goerges, continuing the Dane's poor record at Roland Garros.

Julia Goerges of Germany reacts during the women's singles match against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, May 28, 2015.

Image credit: Reuters

It was actually Wozniacki who made the faster start, breaking Goerges in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead and looking like the far superior player.
The set was soon turned on its head, however, as the German broke Wozniacki's next two service games before serving it out to love to take control on Chatrier.
The second set was a tight affair with both players holding serve until Goerges broke in the seventh only for Wozniaki to break straight back.
Georges had a chance to seal it on her serve after breaking Wozniacki again to move 6-5 ahead, but again the Dane broke back to take it to a tie-breaker.
There was to be no great recovery for the former world number one however, as she lost the second set tie-breaker 7-4 to join Simona Halep as the biggest casualty of the competition so far.
Francesca Schiavone outlasted Svetlana Kuznetsova in a marathon match on the Bullring court, winning 7-6(11) 5-7 10-8 in three hours and 50 minutes.
It fell a way short of the four hours and 44 minutes it took Schiavone to beat Kuznetsova 16-14 in the deciding set at the Australian Open in 2011, a grand slam record for a women's match, but it more than matched it for intensity.
The 2009 champion Kuznetsova served for the match four times from 5-4 in a gripping deciding set but each time the 34-year-old Schiavone, the oldest player to reach the second round, refused to buckle and broke back.
Kuznetsova had a solitary match point when Schiavone served at 5-6 but could do nothing as her opponent unleashed a winner with her single-handed backhand, the shot that played such a role in her 2010 title in Paris.
Both players were out on their feet, chalk dust caked to their calves and Schiavone sat down on a line judge's chair for a quick breather at 8-8 before springing back to finally hold serve after the players traded nine consecutive breaks.
And when her chance finally came after hanging on for so long she made no mistake, an enthralling contest ending when Kuznetsova dinked a volley into the net.
She ended the contest on her first match point to set up a meeting with Romanian 30th seed Irina-Camelia Begu or American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Britain's Heather Watson suffered a second-round defeat for the fourth time in five years as she lost 6-2 6-4 to American Sloane Stephens.
The 23-year-old dropped serve on five occasions as she was routinely beaten by Stephens, who secured her first victory over Watson in five attempts.
Watson played the entire match with her right arm heavily strapped, but she refused to blame her exit on injury.
"I've had this with my arm for a week and a bit now, but it wasn't the reason I lost," she said. "I felt fine. I had it taped up and took some painkillers before the match, but it was just me really. I was just pretty sluggish and slow out there. After a set and a bit I finally got into it, but at that point it was a little bit too late. It would've been a tough battle to get all the way back."
Earlier on, Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova laboured into the third round of the French Open as she overcame Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 on Thursday.
The double Wimbledon champion, a semi-finalist on the Paris clay in 2012, made 54 unforced errors in a patchy display on a chilly court Suzanne Lenglen.
picture

Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova in action during the second round

Image credit: Reuters

After two exchanges of breaks, the first set went into a tiebreak that the Spaniard easily won but Kvitova eventually found her range.
Sara Errani, the runner-up in 2012, also avoided a mishaps in her match as the Italian beat Carina Witthoeft of Germany 6-4 7-6(4).
Results from the French Open Women's Singles Round 2 matches on Thursday
Sloane Stephens (U.S.) beat Heather Watson (Britain) 6-2 6-4
23-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat Tereza Smitkova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-0
Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) beat Denisa Allertova (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-6(2)
16-Madison Keys (U.S.) beat Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-0 6-3
27-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-3
1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) 5-7 6-3 6-3
Andreea Mitu (Romania) beat 12-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4
Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat 18-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-7(11) 7-5 10-8
30-Irina Begu (Romania) beat Ana Konjuh (Croatia) 6-2 6-0
10-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 4-6 6-4 6-4
4-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2
17-Sara Errani (Italy) beat Carina Witthoeft (Germany) 6-3 4-6 6-2
Julia Goerges (Germany) beat 5-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-4 7-6(4)
Irina Falconi (U.S.) beat Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria) 3-6 6-1 6-2
Join 3M+ users on app
Stay up to date with the latest news, results and live sports
Download
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement