Wozniacki crashes out at Roland Garros
Top-seed ousted from French Open as Federer and Ferrer remain on course for quarter clash.
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| Down and out: Wozniacki’s loss throws open the women’s draw after Clijsters lost yesterday [EPA] |
Caroline Wozniacki’s Grand Slam misery continued on Friday as the Danish player crashed out of the French Open with a humiliating 6-1, 6-3 loss to Daniela Hantuchova.
The result blows open the women’s tournament, following yesterday’s elimination of second seed Kim Clijsters, leaving third-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia as the highest-ranking player left in the last 16.
On the men’s side, 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer had 10 aces and only 20 unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 29 Janko Tipsarevic.
The match between Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro was interrupted by bad light with the duo locked at one-set all.
Poor form
Wozniacki looked completely out of sorts under threatening skies on Court Suzanne Lenglen, falling 6-1, 4-0 behind in less than an hour.
Heading for an embarrassingly one-sided loss, Wozniacki broke back but Hantuchova ended her opponent’s ordeal after 73 minutes.
Wozniacki, whose best Grand Slam performance was reaching the US Open final in 2009, left the court without looking at the crowd, her eyes staring at the clay.
“She played very well today, better than me for sure. She knew what she wanted to do and I need to get back on the court and practice and come back stronger,” the Dane said.
“Kim had a tough loss yesterday and I had a tough loss today and that’s what can happen. Since we are number one and two we must be doing something right.
“I am young and I get experience every time and you learn more from your losses than from your wins.”
Mixed fortunes
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, there were mixed fortunes for last year’s finalists with defending champion Francesca Schiavone progressing, and Australian Samantha Stosur crashing out after being a break up in the deciding set against Gisela Dulko.
The 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Canadian Rebecca Marino, while former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia looked more like her old self in defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-2, 6-2.
Eleventh seed Marion Bartoli, meanwhile, kept alive hopes of a first French title win at Roland Garros since Mary Pierce in 2000 with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Julia Goerges of Germany.
Seventh seed David Ferrer demolished Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 and the Spanish seventh seed, who has not dropped a set in three matches, will next faces France’s Gael Monfils after the ninth seed eased past Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3 6-4 7-5.