Ana Ivanovic dazzles at French Open quarterfinals
(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Nishikori first Japanese to reach mens last eight stage in 82 years
Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic returns the ball to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova during the women’s fourth round of the French Tennis Open in Paris on Sunday. — AFP
Paris: Ana Ivanovic made the French Open quarterfinals for the first time since her 2008 title run Sunday where she’ll face Elina Svitolina the first Ukrainian to make the last eight.
But defending champion Maria Sharapova’s scheduled last-16 clash against Lucie Safarova was pushed back until Monday after rain caused a lengthy stoppage at a chilly Roland Garros.
The Russian second seed now faces the prospect of playing matches on two successive days with the first two women’s quarter-finals already programmed for Tuesday. Seventh-seeded Serb Ivanovic defeated Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova a semifinalist at the Australian Open in January 7-5 3-6 6-1 to book her eighth career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Watched again by German World Cup winning football star Bastian Schweinsteiger the 27-year-old Ivanovic shrugged off a two and a half hour rain stoppage to secure her third three-set win in four rounds in Paris.
The 20-year-old Svitolina beat fellow former Roland Garros junior champion Alize Cornet on a windy chilly Court Philippe Chatrier 6-2 7-6 (11/9). “It’s amazing to be in the quarterfinals again. To be honest coming into the tournament I didn’t really expect that at all” said Ivanovic. “But I really worked hard for each match. I worked hard even before the tournament to reach the quarterfinal again.”
Svitolina seeded 19 is only the second Ukrainian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal after Kateryna Bondarenko made the last eight at the 2009 US Open.
It was Svitolina’s first win over Cornet in three meetings and the result ended French hopes in the women’s singles for another year.
She displayed nerves of steel to achieve victory failing to serve out the tie in the 10th game of the second set and then allowing five match points to slip through her fingers.
However she secured victory on her sixth match point when Cornet went long with a backhand her 42nd unforced error of the windswept tie.
Svitolina will take a 6-0 losing record into her clash with Ivanovic a run that includes a second round loss in Paris last year and again on clay in Madrid earlier this month.
With four men’s last-16 ties still to be played on Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen it was decided that Sharapova and Safarova will play their fourth round on Monday instead.
Sunday’s other fourth round clash between 33-year-old Italian Flavia Pennetta who has never played in the French Open quarter-finals and Garbine Muguruza the Spanish 21st seed was also shelved.
In the men’s section Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man in 82 years to reach the French Open quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Fifth seed Nishikori goes on to face either Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga the 14th seeded Czech for a place in the semi-finals. Jiro Satoh was the last Japanese man to enjoy such a run in Paris when he went on to the semifinals in 1931 and 1933.
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