« Back to article | Print this article |
Maria Sharapova made up for lost time as she hurried into the third round of the French Open with a 6-1, 6-1 pummelling of Japan's Ayumi Morita on Friday.
The Russian second seed had been scheduled to face Morita on Thursday but failed to get on to Centre Court after Paul-Henri Mathieu took almost six hours to beat John Isner.
On Thursday, she refused to hang around longer than necessary on a cold and blustery Suzanne Lenglen Court and whipped winners at will to end 84th-ranked Morita's challenge as the clock ticked over the hour mark.
Morita's backhand error on match point allowed Sharapova to become the final singles player to reach the third round, where she will face China's Peng Shuai.
Former champion Ana Ivanovic went out of the French Open, beaten 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 by Italian claycourt specialist Sara Errani in an erratic third-round display.
Ivanovic, the Roland Garros winner in 2008 and a former world number one, started well on the Suzanne Lenglen showcourt but her game deteriorated and, at one stage in the final set, she hit three double faults in a row.
Errani, seeded 21st while Ivanovic was number 13, served well and won points at the net before taking victory on her second matchpoint when the Serbian put a forehand wide.
Sara Errani will now meet 26th-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, another former champion, who knocked out third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1 6-2.
Ivanovic took full responsibility for her loss, saying: "I was making some unforced errors when I was too flat-footed.
"In the third set I was creating a lot of opportunities and missing a lot of easy, easy finishing balls and that is something I am not happy about," the world number 14 told a news conference.
"Some double faults really came out of nowhere. Maybe I wasn't using my legs enough."
Errani, who said her coach had told her to play to Ivanovic's backhand as much as possible, was delighted with the win.
"It is one of my best," she told a news conference. "She is not top 10 now but she has always been among the top players, so I am very happy."
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska exited the French Open after being comprehensively out-fought and out-manoeuvred in a straight-sets, third-round defeat to former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The 26th seed, who won the 2009 title at Roland Garros, won 6-1, 6-2 with a display of relentless consistency to which the frequently wayward Radwanska had no response.
Despite her lithe frame, the Pole looked ill at ease on the clay and lacked the all-round aggression of her Russian opponent who broke four times to take the first set in 30 minutes.