Murray gets by in five sets; Halep, Wawrinka win on French Open Day 4

French Open results from Day 4: Stan Wawrinka, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Kei Nishikori all win.

Author:
Jamie Lisanti
Publish date:
May 25, 2016

A recap of the action on Day 4 on Wednesday at the French Open in Paris, including results, tweets, hot shots, photos and more.

Results Roundup

•After playing five sets and three hours and 41 minutes in the first round, Andy Murray took it the distance again on Wednesday, needing three hours and 34 minutes to fight off a remarkable effort from Mathias Bourgue.

Amelie Mauresmo left lasting impression on Andy Murray

On court for the third consecutive day in Paris, No. 2-seed Murray looked to be on his way to the third round when he took the first set over Bourgue. But the French wildcard—playing in his first-ever major and second Grand Slam match in his career—stormed back in the second set, winning six games in a row to take the second set 6–2 and even the score.

The No. 164-ranked Bourgue broke Murray to start the third and despite a strong effort from the Scot, Bourgue pulled away to take the set 6–4. Now down a set, Murray changed his shirt and hat on the changeover and the switch seemed to work, as he saved three break points at the start of the fourth and fell into a groove to even the score a 2–all and force a fifth set.

In the decider, Bourgue continued to fight—with the help of a Coke and a candy bar—and made Murray serve out the match.

"I don't want to play five sets every round and don't want to have big dropoffs in matches," Murray said after the match. "But I was trying. I was trying to find a way. It wasn't like I was not there mentally, but I just couldn't find the court....I was missing a lot of balls long, and his ball was jumping up a lot, so during that period, I lost my way a bit."

The No. 2 advanced with a tough 6–2, 2–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–3 win over Bourgue, who received a standing ovation from the French crowd.

"It was completely incredible. Was the first time for me in this kind of court, that big, against a huge player," Bourgue said after the match. "So I'd like to say thanks to all the crowd to encourage me the whole match. It was really an emotional moment for me, and I will never forget it."

In the third round Murray will face Ivo Karlovic, who needed more than four hours to defeat Australian Jordan Thompson in five sets.

• No. 6-seed SimonaHalep got off to a shaky start on Wednesday against ZarinaDiyas, but pulled through to take the first set tiebreak and then cruised to win in straights, 7–6, 6–2. In the third round, she'll play 18-year-old Naomi Osaka, who defeated MirjanaLucic-Baroni 6–3, 6–3.

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“I had two good matches here already,” Halep said. “I'm looking forward to play the third one. I expect a tough one. She's a young player and she has nothing to lose. It's going to be good match, and hopefully I will win it. I'm here to win.”

No. 4-seed Garbine Muguruza dropped only two games in a straight sets 6-2, 6-0 win over Myrtille Georges. After the match, Muguruza was asked how far she thinks she can make it in the tournament, after No. 3-seed Angelique Kerber and No. 5-seed Victoria Azarenka both lost on Tuesday.

"Well, it's interesting, because when you look at the recent tournaments, things have been very erratic and unpredictable. The players, as you mentioned, have had some tough matches," she said. "I don't think it's like the men where when you play Djokovic you know you're going to lose. It's not the same thing in women's singles at all."

Murray survives, Nadal cruises and Kerber loses on French Open Day 3

• After a few cool, damp days in Paris, the sun was shining on Wednesday and players seemed to warm up to the better conditions. No. 10-seed and 2012 Roland Garros semifinalist Petra Kvitova started the day with a 6–4, 6–1 win over Su-Wei Hsieh. The win marked Kvitova's 300th career win and the Czech remains undefeated in second round matches at the French Open. In the third round, she'll face American Shelby Rogers, who took out Russian Elena Vesnina 6–4, 6–2 to reach the third round at a major for second time in her career. (She advanced to the third round at the U.S. Open last year.)

• After the No. 3-seed needed five sets to stave off an upset bid from Lukas Rosol in the first round, Stan Wawrinka took care of business in three sets on Wednesday, defeating Taro Daniel 7–6(7), 6–3, 6–4. The defending champion will next face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who defeated Adam Pavlasek 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Watch: Rafael Nadal goes between the legs in straight-sets win

• Roland Garros 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova sent Britain's Heather Watson packing with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. The No. 13-seed is pegged as a dark horse for the title in Paris, where she has reached the quarterfinals or better seven times in her career. She'll face No. 23-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next after she dispatched Cagla Buyukakcay 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

• On the men's side, No. 5-seed Kei Nishikori dismissed Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and 19-year-old rising German star Alexander Zverev finished off Pierre-Hugues Herbert 5-7, 6-2, 7-6, 7-5 after the match was suspended due to darkness on Tuesday.

No. 23-seed Jack Sock advanced to the third round in Paris for the second year in a row with a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 over Dustin Brown. He'll play Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard defeated Marco Trungelliti—who defeated Marin Cilic in the first round—in straight sets.

• No muss, no fuss for No. 17-seed Nick Kyrgios, who quickly and quietly beat Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in just 70 minutes to advance to the third round. Must've been that good night's sleep.

• No. 11-seed Lucie Safarova has struggled with her health since reaching the final in Paris last year, but the Czech has looked strong through her first two matches. On Wednesday she defeated Viktorija Golubic 6–2, 6–2.

• Later in the day, No. 2-seed Agnieszka Radwanska rolled to a 6–2, 6–4 win over Caroline Garcia and No. 8-seed Milos Raonic defeated Adrian Mannarino 6–1, 7–6, 6–1 to advance to the third round. To close out action on Day 4, Sloane Stephens overcame a slow start to defeat Veronica Cepede Royg 7-6(0), 6-1 to advance to the third round, where she'll play Tsvetana Pironkova.

• More notable results: Annika Beck d. Kateryna Bondarenko 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Andrej Martin d. Lucas Pouille 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; Gilles Simon d. Guido Pella 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4; Tsvetana Pironkova d. Johanna Larsson 7-5, 7-6; Barbora Strycova d. Polona Hercog 6-4, 6-4; Richard Gasquet d. Bjorn Fratangelo 6-1, 7-6, 6-3; John Isner d. Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic d. Jordan Thompson 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 12-10; Teymuraz Gabashvili d. No. 19 Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; Fernando Verdasco d. Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-1, 6-3; Yanina Wickmayer d. Ekaterina Makarova 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; Samantha Stosur d. Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-4

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Hot shots of the Day

Tweets of the Day

Quote of the Day

Q. I want to know if you ever got the Mars bar you asked for. I didn't see. I know you got the Coke.
MATHIAS BOURGUE: I got the Twix, but it was okay.

Q. Were you feeling low on energy at that point? Is that why you needed a boost?
MATHIAS BOURGUE: I started—I felt I wanted to have some sugar, because I was tired. I just asked for it, and that's—Gilles Simon told me if you feel tired, take one Coke and one Mars bar, so that's what I wanted to do.

The Day in Photos

FRENCH OPEN DAY 4

French Open 2016 Day 4

Petra Kvitova

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Heather Watson

Andrey Kuznetsov

Ivo Karlovic

Simona Halep

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Kei Nishikori

Shelby Rogers

Naomi Osaka

Fernando Verdasco

Stan Wawrinka

Garbine Muguruza

Mathias Bourgue

John Isner

Nick Kyrgios

Serena and Venus Williams

Richard Gasquet

Bjorn Fratangelo

Agnieszka Radwanska

Milos Raonic

Gilles Simon

Daily Data Viz

Each day, SI and IBM will bring you data-driven infographics based on the top storylines and stats from Roland Garros. Click the image to view the graphic.

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