• French Open, Day Six

Sharapova marches on as Radwanska crashes out

ESPN staff
June 1, 2012

ESPN will be providing extensive coverage of the French Open, with live scores, commentary and analysis and you can follow it all with our live scorecentre

Maria Sharapova fired another warning to her rivals as she blazed into the third round of the French Open with a dominant win over Ayumi Morita.

The No. 2 seed was forced to wait until Friday to make it onto court after Paul-Henri Mathieu's epic win over John Isner on Court Philippe Chatrier, but she wasted little time as she romped to a 6-1 6-1 victory.

While the other women in action were looking to seal their places in the fourth round, Sharapova is yet to play her third round match - she will meet Peng Shuai on Saturday. The Russian has dropped just two games in her opening two matches following her 'double bagel' victory over Alexandra Cadantu on Tuesday.

Sharapova is looking to complete a career Grand Slam in Paris, and following Serena Williams' shock first-round exit, another of her rivals fell by the wayside as third seed Agnieszka Radwanska was dumped out by former Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The Russian, who won the title three years ago, has slipped outside the world's top 20 after a disappointing run of form in the last 12 months, but appears to be hitting form at the right time with a dominant 6-1 6-2 win on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Kuznetsova will now face Italian Sara Errani after the Italian stormed back to dump out 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic 1-6 7-5 6-3. Ivanovic had looked to be in good form, dropping just six games in her opening two matches, and appeared to be firmly on course for the last 16 when she sailed through the first set.

She may have been overpowered in the opening stages but Errani, who has won three clay-court titles this season, refused to be beaten; her speed and clay-court guile neutralising the threat of Ivanovic.

After the pair exchanged breaks during the second set, Errani grabbed a late break to level proceedings. Although Ivanovic broke in the opening game of the final set, Errani rallied, winning three games on the bounce to take command of the match before closing out victory.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka overcame sutborn resistance in the form of Aleksandra Wozniak to book a place in the next round. Scheduled to be fifth on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the pair were shifted to Court 1 after it became clear they would not get on. Wozniak fought gamely but ultimately came up short, with world No. 1 Azarenka breaking in the ninth game before serving out the first set.

The second set proved even tighter, with both women losing their serve. However, Azarenka soon wrestled back the initiative and, although she squandered a match point on her opponent's serve, she quickly made amends on her won delivery.

US Open champion Sam Stosur made steady progress into the fourth round with an impressive 6-3 6-3 win over Nadia Petrova. The Australian had lost five of their seven previous encounters but never looked in danger of defeat as she set up a clash with Sloane Stephens, who was a 6-3 6-2 winner over Mathilde Johansson. Tenth seed Angelique Kerber overcame losing the first set to oust Flavia Pennetta 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Also through to the fourth round is the diminutive Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, who claimed an impressive 6-2 6-1 win over Laura Robson's conqueror Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Cibulkova awaits a likely showdown with top seed Victoria Azarenka, while Petra Martic continued her giant-killing run with victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues. Martic, who stunned eighth seed Marion Bartoli in round two, claimed an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory on Friday.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close