Radwanska, Halep ousted; matches cancelled on French Open Day 10
A recap of the action on a rainy Day 10 on Tuesday at the French Open in Paris, including results, tweets, hot shots, photos and more.
Results Roundup
• When the match resumed from Sunday evening, No. 2-seed Agnieszka Radwanska was dominating Tsvetana Pironkova 6–2, 3–0. But it was No. 102-ranked Pironkova who came out firing on Tuesday, winning 12 of the last 15 games to upset Radwanska 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 and advance to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time in her career. After the match, Radwanska said she was unhappy with the conditions on Tuesday.
No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 6 Simona Halep upset at French Open
“I'm just so surprised and angry that we have to play in the rain,” Radwanska said after the match. “I mean, it's not a 10,000 tournament. It's a Grand Slam. How can you allow players to play in the rain? I cannot play in that conditions.
“…Also in the morning, like, the second set it was—we play pretty much in the rain. I don't know who allows us to play in that kind of conditions. I mean, I don't think they really care what we think. I think they care about other things, I guess. So, I'm just pissed. I just cannot play in that conditions. I mean, I'm not healthy enough.”
Radwanska’s loss means that Serena Williams will hold on to the No. 1 ranking after the French Open. With her win, Pironkova becomes the first Bulgarian woman to reach the French Open quarterfinals since 2005. She will play Sam Stosur, who pulled off an upset of her own on Tuesday.
In a match also continued from Sunday evening, No. 6-seed Simona Halep was leading No. 22-seed Stosur 5–3 when play began on Tuesday. But Stosur got off to a rolling start, earning three break points and leveling the opening set at 5–5. In the tiebreak, Stosur prevailed 7-0 to take the first set.
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After yet another stoppage, Stosur picked up where she left off and closed out the match 7–6(0), 6–3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I guess for me today I was able to hit through the court probably a bit better than Simona was able to,” 2010 finalist Stosur said after the match. “Heavy, wet conditions like this don't typically help me too much, but I think today I was able to use them better to my tennis than what she was and I was able to put her under more pressure.”
The loss keeps Halep, who made the 2014 French Open final, out of the quarterfinals for the sixth time in seven years at Roland Garros. Like Radwanska, the Romanian also expressed her complaints about the conditions during the match.
“I cannot comment about the conditions. I have no words,” Halep said. “It was impossible to play, in my opinion. And to play tennis matches during the rain I think it's a bit too much. But everyone was in the same situation, and who was stronger won today.”
Halep echoed Radwanska’s comments about the conditions and was asked if she attempted to stop the match.
“I think was not a good idea to say something because you say without reasons. No one cares about the players in my opinion,” she said. “I don't care that I lost the match today, but I was close to get injured with my back, so that's a big problem. But like I said, no one cares. We have just to go and play.”
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• Before play was cancelled for the day, No. 1 Novak Djokovic fought his way back after losing the opening set to Roberto Bautista-Agut to lead 3–6, 6–4, 4–1. The Serb is looking to reach his 10th Roland Garros quarterfinal, which will put him level with Rafael Nadal and one short of Roger Federer’s mark.
At the time of stoppage, David Ferrer–Tomas Berdych and Ernests Gulbis–David Goffin were just getting underway, and Marcel Granollers and Dominic Thiem were level at one set all in their fourth round matchup.
• The remaining matches scheduled for Tuesday were also cancelled, meaning the Andy Murray–Richard Gasquet, Stan Wawrinka–Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Serena Williams–Elina Svitolina, Venus Williams–Timea Bacsinszky, Carla Suarez Navarro–Yulia Putintseva and Kiki Bertens-Madison Keys matches will all be pushed to Wednesday, weather permitting.
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French Open 2016 Day 10
Novak Djokovic
Roberto Bautista-Agut
Sam Stosur, Simona Halep
Sam Stosur
Dominic Thiem
Agnieszka Radwanska
Tsvetana Pironkova
Novak Djokovic
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David Ferrer
Novak Djokovic
Ernests Gulbis
Andy Murray
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