Rain has again delayed play at the French Open.
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Top seed Djokovic tackles Spain’s 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in Tuesday’s opening match.
Belgian 12th seed David Goffin faces unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a semi-finalist in 2014. The world No. 1 follows Djokovic on center court Tuesday. Serena Williams and second-seeded Andy Murray, Djokovic’s greatest threat here, are discovering that, too. No. 8 Timea Bacsinszky, Kiki Bertens vs.
In the quarterfinals, Serena will face either No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain or unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
French Open organizers have announced the cancellation of all matches Monday at Roland Garros because of persistent rain forecast to last all day.
Second-seeded Andy Murray is now set to take on No. 9-seed Richard Gasquet on Wednesday. And 2011 U.S. Open champion Stosur – wearing a green long-sleeved shirt against the chill of temperatures in the 50s (about 15 degrees Celsius) – was better throughout Tuesday, her big hitting able to withstand the conditions better than Halep’s spins and angles. That didn’t quite work out, but at least there were players on court, and shots being struck, by a little past noon.
Muguruza of Spain swept into her third straight Roland Garros quarterfinal after outplaying 2009 champion and No. 13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russian Federation 6-3, 6-4. It didn’t have an immediate effect as she dropped her serve at love in the next game.
While organizers, who canceled play early at about 1:45 p.m. local time (11:45 GMT), can’t control Mother Nature, they are sure to receive more criticism for being the only grand slam in tennis not to have a roof. She knows how to win this tournament, and she has a lot of experience and is a very tough player.
“She played a smart match”, the seven-time major champion added. Sixth seed Simona Halep of Romania was leading Australian veteran Samantha Stosur 5-3.
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska closes her eyes as she plays Bulgarias Tsvetana Pironkova during th …
There have been several delays to play at the 2016 French Open, but Monday saw the most significant one yet. “She’s always the favorite”.
It is the first time Gasquet has reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, much to the delight of the French crowd. Concurrently, it made Novak Djokovic’s task of completing his grand slam collection a little bit harder.
Bautista Agut criticised the decision to play Tuesday after Monday’s first complete washout in 16 years.
Play had been set to get underway at 1100 (0900GMT) yesterday but was eventually called off just before 1400 (1200GMT).
Djokovic literally hustled from position to position on the baseline between points to keep the match moving, and at one point even pleaded – successfully – with chair umpire to stay in his chair rather than trundle down to check a ball mark on the court.
Djokovic made the flawless start against 14th seed Bautista Agut, breaking the Spaniard’s serve, but he struggled to hold his own and was broken three times in the opening set. With blanket rain forecast until tomorrow morning and with showers forecast for the rest of the week, match scheduling could become problematic for officials.
After Monday’s complete washout at the clay-court Grand Slam, matches will start at 11:00 a.m. – three hours earlier than initially planned – and be spread over more courts.
Both players are in the last eight, with Ramos-Vinolas defeating No. 8 seed Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to book his first spot in the quarters of a major tournament.
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Nor has No. 3 Stan Wawrinka against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and the defending champion leads the Spaniard 6-0 heading into their quarterfinal.
