Svitolina never felt a French Open favourite, Wozniacki looks one

Caroline Wozniacki surged past Pauline Parmentier in round three, but Elina Svitolina was ousted by Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Published : Jun 02, 2018 03:02 IST

Elina Svitolina had not considered herself one of the favourites for the French Open title prior to her third-round exit, but Caroline Wozniacki looks like a serious contender.

Svitolina arrived at Roland Garros on the back of her third title of the year on the WTA Tour, having breezed past Simona Halep in the final of the Internazionali d'Italia.

The Ukrainian fourth seed was consequently tipped for a deep run in Paris, but she did not quite see it in the same way after being stunned by Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 7-5.

"Of course I believed that I can play well in the grand slams, but I didn't really think that I'm the favourite at this tournament," said Svitolina.

"But I don't want to think those ways. There are lots of girls who played more consistent than me on clay."

There was no such trouble for Wozniacki against Pauline Parmentier, though.

 

DR BUZARNESCU PUTS ON A CLINIC

This time last year, Buzarnescu was ranked 377th in the world. Before this week she had only played two grand slam main draw matches, losing to Wozniacki on both occasions.

Now the Romanian, who got a Ph.D in sports science amid two serious left knee injuries that required surgery, has a fourth-round date with Madison Keys – who overcame Naomi Osaka 6-1 7-6 (9-7).

The 30-year-old hit 20 more winners than Svitolina but is not developing an ego despite a rapid rise from obscurity, interacting with a tweet from a media outlet in which her name was spelled "Buzarnesco" by light-heartedly posting: "They can't spell my name yet, but I'm in the second week of @rolandgarros!!"

 

WOZNIACKI DENIED DOUBLE-BAGEL

It took 12 games for Parmentier to finally win one against a ruthless Wozniacki, but a late surge from the Frenchwoman was snuffed out by the Australian Open champion after 78 minutes.

"I tried to hang in there and not leave with 6-0 6-0 because it's awful," said a dispirited Parmentier after her 6-0 6-3 loss.

Wozniacki is looking to return to the top of the rankings and will take on Daria Kasatkina, who downed Maria Sakkari 6-1 1-6 6-3, for a place in the quarter-finals.

 

RAIN CUTS DAY SHORT

Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens, seeded eighth and 10th respectively, were unable to take to court due to inclement weather.

Czech Kvitova will take on Anett Kontaveit on Saturday, while Camila Giorgi stands between US Open champion Stephens and the last 16.

Barbora Strycova beat Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3 and to set up a clash with Yulia Putintseva, who saved two match points to defeat Wang Qiang 1-6 7-5 6-4.

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