(Updates with Djokovic and Azarenka)
By Pritha Sarkar
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) – A flat-footed Ana Ivanovic and an
out-of-sorts Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska bade an early
farewell to a cool and blustery Roland Garros on Friday.
Roger Federer and Nicolas Mahut, however, were soon turning
up the heat as they thrilled the purists with a delightful
exhibition of shot-making before the Swiss tactician brokered a
6-3 4-6 6-2 7-5 win to book his place in the last 16.
Novak Djokovic also got the crowd going, but in his case it
was by joining them for a Mexican wave mid-match, before he
exposed the gulf of talent with 286th-ranked French qualifier
Nicolas Devilder during a 6-1 6-2 6-2 thrashing.
For a woman who showed no weaknesses while dispatching Venus
Williams in the previous round, Radwanska unusually suffers
stage fright when she comes face-to-face with 2009 champion
Svetlana Kuznetsova.
So it proved again on Friday as the world number three froze
on the biggest stage in claycourt tennis, winning a measly three
games during a 6-1 6-2 humbling by the Russian 26th seed on
Philippe Chatrier Court.
Kuznetsova skipped off court – perhaps to experiment with
another eye-catching hairdo after showing off cropped, tight
braids – after notching up a sixth successive win over Radwanska
and securing a last-16 date with Sara Errani.
The defeat dashed Radwanska’s hopes of finishing the
tournament as world number one as she had been in a three-way
race for the top spot with Victoria Azarenka and Maria
Sharapova. Azarenka stayed on track by downing Canadian
Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4 6-4.
Continued…
