Just three of Williams’s 21Grand Slam titles have come in France – the first in 2002 and then a long gap until 2013 and 2015.
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Sixth seed Simona Halep and the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza were among the players left kicking their heels due to the inclement weather in the French capital.
Williams’ coach, the Frenchman Patrick Mouratoglou, also expressed concern about Williams’ preparedness. She’s still chasing history – Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 majors is one championship away.
Last Year: Wawrinka used his terrific one-handed backhand to upset Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, thanks in large part to a 60-30 edge in winners, for his second Grand Slam title and first in Paris. “Any time you get wins against the best players it’s big, not so much for them but more for me to have that belief and confidence when I go on court against them that I can win the match, and that I more or less know the right way to play against them on this surface”.
“Whereas five, 10 years ago, “oh, I’m defending and I feel that pressure”.
Murray, the acme of diplomacy, suppressed a smile and said: “To be honest, I think it was quite normal. It would be nice. but I’m not here to just reach the final”.
Kvitova, not to mention most of those watching her inside Philippe Chatrier, is likely still bemused how the match reached its dramatic conclusion in the first place. A loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova at Miami saw Williams pull down the shutters for a while only for her to roar back to form in Rome. With two-time victor Maria Sharapova out of the picture under a doping cloud, the opposition to Williams is expected to come from Europeans in the shape of Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who upset Williams in Melbourne, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 2014 finalist Simona Halep of Romania, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, as well as Azarenka.
But there could be an emerging threat from her fellow American Madison Keys, who ran Williams close in the Rome final, and who seems to have developed a taste for claycourt action at just 21.
Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, the third seed, is lined up for a last-eight duel with 2015 semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky. But at 28, how much she has in the reserves?
The good news for Williams: None of her WTA counterparts dominated the spring clay-court swing. Caroline Garcia, a finalist this week in Strasbourg, and Sara Errani, a former finalist at Roland Garros, could present huge challenges for her before the quarter-finals.
But Azarenka’s knee buckled in the sixth game of the second set, and she started grimacing and limping. Raonic is projected to meet Wawrinka in the quarters, an opponent he beat at the Australian Open. Clay isn’t her best surface, but clearly the back was an issue there and is a concern coming into Roland Garros. Expected in the last four.
She has done it her own way, too. Inconsistency has been dogging her.
Top-ranked Serena Williams said she noticed the changes in the security setup.
To win the final would mean playing as well as he did in Rome and better. Expected to make the final.
Schiavone was surprised to receive a standing ovation after her loss, and was annoyed at tournament organizers for prematurely announcing this was her last French Open. It’s surprising thus that she finds the slow courts slippery and “hard to move”.
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Of the 32 matches on Sunday’s schedule, his was one of only nine completed before showers created a rain delay of more than 2½ hours in the afternoon, interrupting matches involving No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 23 Jack Sock and others.
