Maria Sharapova, perhaps the world’s highest-profile female athlete, is missing, serving a provisional ban for failing a drug test.
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Ah, the joys of Paris in the spring.
The match originally was scheduled for Monday, but showers forced cancellation of an entire day of play at Roland Garros for the first time in 16 years. She was the runner-up to her sister Serena at Roland Garros in 2002, but her most recent trip to the quarterfinals in Paris came in 2006. As it stands, the woman from Williams’s half of the draw who advances to the final would have to play four matches in four days. “But I’m happy that in the end the wait was worth it”.
Halep’s defeat, however, was not as surprising as Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska’s.
“It was impossible to play, in my opinion”, she told reporters while praising her opponent.
“But like I said, no one cares”. “I don’t care that I lost the match today, but I was close to injuring my back…” “The court was not good”. The balls were wet, completely wet during the match.
Halep and Radwanska led their encounters prior to the resumption.
Radwanska had been 6-2, 3-0 up on Sunday night.
She rallied to break for 1-4 and held for 2-4, but this looked like a lost cause, and sure enough, the popular Pole could not find enough form to turn things around.
Radwanska called a medical timeout at 0-4 in the third set for her right hand, which required surgery a few years ago.
“I mean, it’s not a 10,000 tournament, it’s a Grand Slam”, said Radwanska, referring to the lowest-level event in profession tennis. “We have played in all sorts of conditions”, Pironkova said.
Novak Djokovic is back on court at the French Open, where play has resumed after a rain delay of more than 2½ hours.
“I think she came on court and she had nothing to lose”, said the world number two. So I’m just p*****.
Players have finally stepped out on court at the French Open. After the match, Radwanska said she was unhappy with the conditions on Tuesday.
“Our aim was to play for as long as possible, even if that meant being criticized for playing in hard conditions”. “Sam was stronger and she played better today, and these conditions I think are good for her because she has a lot of topspin”. Five? I don’t know. The Romanian suggested organizers may be “scared” about completing the tournament on time, adding that the decisions made were “not the best”. “Yeah, like it’s not good out there, but it was fine for us”. Tournament director Guy Forget said that Monday’s washout would lead to a loss of around two million euros.
Philippe Chatrier court is due to have a roof by 2020 at the earliest.
Monday was the first day entirely wiped out by wet weather at the French Open since May 30, 2000. It didn’t have an immediate effect as she dropped her serve at love in the next game.
Three other men’s last-16 ties – David Ferrer against Tomas Berdych, the clash between David Goffin and Ernests Gulbis as well as Marcel Granollers’ duel with Dominic Thiem – were also to be completed.
Pironkova, renowned as a risky player on grass and other fast surfaces, won the first 10 games either side of another lengthy rain delay and eventually ran out a 2-6 6-3 6-3 victor.
This has been a particularly fractious year in the sport, starting with the Australian Open in January, where match-fixing charges resurfaced and the ITF was again accused of lacking sufficient transparency in how it polices the integrity of the game, the umpires and players, and its anti-doping program.
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The first two men’s quarterfinals were also listed on Tuesday’s schedule – No. 2 Andy Murray against No. 9 Richard Gasquet, and defending champion Stan Wawrinka against Albert Ramos-Vinolas – but they were postponed to Wednesday.
