The Latest: Hey Makarova! 9th seed into French 4th round
May 29, 2015, 5:54 AM
Russia's Ekaterina Makarova returns the ball to compatriot Elena Vesnina during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Friday, May 29, 2015 in Paris, (AP Photo/David Vincent)
(AP Photo/David Vincent)
PARIS (AP) — The Latest from the French Open:
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2:51 p.m.
Hey Makarova!
Ninth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova, a semifinalist this year at the Australian Open, is into the French Open fourth round after beating Russian countrywoman Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.
Makarova next faces former champion Ana Ivanovic, seeded seventh, and will be aiming to reach the French quarterfinals for the first time.
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2:09 p.m.
How embarrassing.
Alize Cornet’s 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni puts the 29th seed into the fourth round of the French Open for the first time in 11 attempts.
But in the 10th game of a tense third set, with Cornet on her second serve at 30-30, she served to the right when her opponent was standing on the left.
Oops.
Feeding off the energy of the partisan center-court crowd, the Frenchwoman let out angry screams and pumped her fists to release the tension. At deuce in the 11th game, she slipped and did the splits.
Cornet celebrated her victory as if she had won the tournament, falling onto her back, letting out a scream and then bursting into tears. Picking herself up, she rushed to the net to thank her opponent, forgetfully leaving her racket behind her on the clay. A helpful ball-boy later retrieved it.
“At last, I’m into the second week at Roland. I’ve been waiting for this for 11 years,” she said.
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1:27 p.m.
With his bad back behind him, Richard Gasquet is looking ahead.
After a five-set, second-round French Open match that spanned two days, the 20th seed says he is ready to take on 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson despite having just one day to recover.
“My preparation will be shortened, but everything’s fine for me, I’m physically well,” Gasquet said after winning the fifth set against Carlos Berlocq that was held over from the night before.
The score when the evening gloom stopped play on Thursday was 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6. Gasquet whistled through the deciding set 6-1 on Friday to defeat the Argentine.
Gasquet, a former No. 7 now ranked 21st, recently returned to competition after retiring in Indian Wells with a back injury. He made a successful comeback to the ATP tour in Estoril, where he won his second title of the year.
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12:45 p.m.
Richard Gasquet looks in the mood to spend as little time as possible on court against Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.
The players trudged off Court Suzanne Lenglen at 9:20 p.m on Thursday night, with their second-round match tied at two sets apiece after nearly three hours of play.
They came out again Friday to finish the match.
Gasquet, seeded 20th, has raced into a 4-1 lead.
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12:36 p.m.
It took Ana Ivanovic just 53 minutes to return to a fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in more than a year.
Ivanovic, who won the French Open in 2008 the year after losing in the final, advanced 6-0, 6-3 against 165th-ranked Donna Vekic.
Ivanovic last made the fourth round of a major at the Australian Open in 2014.
Ivanovic saved a break point serving for the match and finished with 19 winners.
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11:30 a.m.
Stars from the soccer world seem to like Court Suzanne Lenglen at the French Open.
Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who plays for Bayern Munich and helped his country win last year’s World Cup, was seen clapping during Friday’s third-round match between seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Donna Vekic of Croatia.
On Thursday, Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic — whose club plays nearby — was at the same court as he cheered on top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who is friends with the Swede.
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10:50 a.m.
Former tennis prodigy Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is about to open play on center court at Roland Garros.
Now 33, the 70th-ranked Croatian player is bidding to reach the fourth round for the first time in Paris after upsetting 2014 runner-up Simona Halep in her previous match.
Lucic-Baroni made her breakthrough in 1999 when she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon but her career was then hindered by injuries and financial problems.
She is up against local hope and 29th-seeded Alize Cornet.
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