French Open
At the French Open in Paris, the women’s competition is slowly running out of favorites. On Friday, Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus also said goodbye to number three on the seeding list in the third round, after the first two had already given up in the ranking. In the case of men, however, the nominally best players continue to show no nakedness.
After the end of Sabalenka, the top three in the world rankings are no longer part of the round of 16. The Belarusian lost in the third round to number 31 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4: 6 6: 2 0: 6. Before that, the world number one Ashleigh Barty from Australia had to give up in the second round due to an injury. The number two leading Japanese Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after the first round because of depression.
Since the Romanian Simona Halep, fourth in the world rankings, did not even start at this Grand Slam due to a strain, Sofia Kenin is the highest ranked player in the tournament. The number four seeded American meets her compatriot Jessica Pegula on Saturday in her third round match. Pavlyuchenkova meets former Grand Slam winner Viktoria Asarenka in the round of 16, the Belarusian beat US Madison Keys 6: 2 6: 2.
French Open: Williams in the round of 16
Serena Williams made it into the last sixteen at the French Open in Paris. This gives the 39-year-old the chance to win her 24th Grand Slam title, with which she would equalize Margret Court’s record.
USA superstar Serena Williams was challenged by her compatriot Danielle Collins, but the 39-year-old won 6: 4 6: 4. Williams successfully made up a 4-1 deficit in the second set. The American will now face Kazakh Jelena Rybakina in the round of 16 on Sunday. The elimination of the top three increases Williams’ chances of perhaps winning her 24th major title in Paris. With this she could catch up with record holder Margaret Court (AUS).
Medvedev and Zverev sovereign
In the men’s category, the number two seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and number six of the tournament, Alexander Zverev, showed no nakedness. Medvedev, formerly no friend of clay court tournaments, defeated the strong US server Reilly Opelka 6: 4 6: 2 6: 4 and thus made it into the round of 16 for the first time after four defeats at Roland Garros. There the world number two now meets the Chilean Christian Garin.
Zverev stayed against the Serbian Laslo Djere as in round two without losing a set and won 6: 2 7: 5 6: 2. “I knew that it would not be easy today and that I had to improve compared to the first two rounds,” said Zverev, “my goal is to win Grand Slam tournaments. For that I will have to improve. ”The next opponent of the German is the Japanese Kei Nishikori, whom he recently defeated twice. “I think it will be tight again on Sunday, but I hope I can win,” said Zverev.
The Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina caused a surprise, who against the number 15 seeded, strong Norwegian Casper Ruud after a five-set marathon over 4:35 hours with 7: 6 (7/3) 2: 6 7: 6 (6) 0 : 6 7: 5 prevailed.
