(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Andy Murray cut down Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic to reach the French Open last-16 on Friday as two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova became the fourth top 10 women's seed to be knocked out.
Meanwhile, nine-times French Open champion Rafael Nadal unexpectedly pulled out of the French Open because of a left wrist injury. "I have a problem with my wrist... yesterday I played with an injection, I could play but yesterday night I started to feel more and more pain," the Spanish left-hander told reporters in a hurriedly arranged news conference at Roland Garros. "Today I felt I could not move my wrist," added the dejected Spaniard, who showed no signs of the injury during his 6-3 6-0 6-3 second round win over Facundo Bagnis on Thursday. This is the latest setback the 29-year-old Spaniard has suffered in an injury-plagued career. Tendinitis in his knees prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title in 2009, while the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist also missed the 2012 London Games because of injury. Nadal said, however, that he hoped he would be fit to play at Wimbledon next month. Murray, a three-time semifinalist, had needed two five-set matches and three days of play to get to the last 32. But on Friday the 29-year-old needed just a shade under two hours to beat 6ft 11in (2.11m) Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). It was his seventh win in seven matches against the 37-year-old as Murray goes on to face either John Isner of the United States or Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia. "Especially at the end it was very close. I got off to a quick start and against someone like Ivo that's very important," said Murray. "I was glad to win that tiebreak at the end." Canada's eighth seed Milos Raonic overcame a left hip injury to defeat Slovakian lucky loser Andrej Martin, the world number 133, and reach the last 16 for a second time. Raonic won 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3 but only after requiring a medical timeout at the start of the third set to treat a hip injury. The Canadian, plagued by a similar injury after reaching the Australian Open semis in January, then needed to take a pain-killer before racing away to victory. "At one point it felt like I had trouble bringing my hip back around when I would sprint forward when my left leg was behind me. And then it sort of went the other way," said Raonic. "The trainer was able to assure me that from what he could tell there was nothing serious." Raonic, a quarterfinalist in 2014, next faces 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard stunned American 23rd seed Jack Sock 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Ramos-Vinolas, 28, had not won a match at Roland Garros since 2011 before this year. Czech 10th seed Kvitova became the fourth top 10 seed to exit by the third round after she lost 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 to American world number 108 Shelby Rogers. Kvitova, a semifinalist in 2012, committed 36 unforced errors as 23-year-old Rogers reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time. Spanish fourth seed and last year's Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza won the last nine games to knock out Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0. Muguruza, a quarterfinalist in the last two years, faces a Russian challenge in the last-16 where either dangerous 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova or Anastasia Pavlychenkova will be her opponent. Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, needed three sets to see off 18-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.