Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former French Open finalist Simona Halep crashed out in the last 16 on another rain-hit day at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former French Open finalist Simona Halep crashed out in the last 16 on another rain-hit day at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
Radwanska appeared to be cruising into the quarter-finals as she led unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 3-0 before play was suspended on Sunday, with the tournament then suffering its first washout in 16 years on Monday.
But the Pole, who was hampered by a right wrist injury, dropped 10 straight games either side of another rain delay on Tuesday as world number 102 Pironkova extended her best run in Paris. She won 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“It feels unbelievably great. I have no words right now, I’m so happy,” said Pironkova, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist.
“It was very difficult with all the rain, we waited almost three days to finish the match. But I can’t complain, it turned out great for me.”
Sixth seed Halep, beaten in the 2014 final by Maria Sharapova, suffered a 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 defeat to former US Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia.
The Romanian was 5-3 up when their contest, also held over from Sunday, resumed on Court One, but Stosur broke Halep as she tried to serve out the first set before racing through the tie-break to seize control.
Stosur, the 2010 French Open runner-up, again broke her opponent to begin the second set before clinching a quarter-final berth courtesy of a second break.
The 21st seed will face Pironkova next, with the winner of that tie playing Spain’s Garbine Muguruza or 108th-ranked American Shelby Rogers for a place in the final.
World number one Novak Djokovic dropped the first set of his last-16 clash against Roberto Bautista Agut before heavy rain came to his rescue.
The top seed, chasing an elusive first title in Paris and a career Grand Slam, came onto Court Philippe Chatrier with light rain still falling.
Only 37 minutes of play was possible, but in that time the Serb star was broken three times while carving out two breaks of his own.
The 29-year-old will cross the $100 million career prize money barrier if he makes a 10th Roland Garros quarter-final.
But having lost the first set 6-3 in heavy, slow conditions, he was relieved to leave behind the ghostly show court where just a smattering of spectators, huddled beneath umbrellas, braved the miserable chill.
Tuesday’s schedule had already been delayed by an hour after Monday’s programme was washed away, the first such wipeout in 16 years.
Djokovic had a 4-0 career edge over 14th seed Bautista Agut going into Tuesday’s match and won their last clash on clay in Madrid for the loss of just three games. He had even broken serve in the first game Tuesday after an opening point played out over 30 strokes.
French Open organisers were also looking at taking another financial hit as rain continued to swamp Paris. Tournament director Guy Forget said that Monday’s washout would lead to a loss of around two million euros.
