Wednesday’s defeat was only the second time Serena had been beaten at a major in the round of 64; the last time that happened was at the 1998 Australian Open. PHOTO: REUTERS
Serena Williams was left furious following her bombshell second-round exit from the French Open, but vowed to work ‘five times harder’ to repair her bruised status as the world’s best player.
To cap off a miserable day for the Williams’ family, sister Venus was also knocked out as the two American superstars lost at a major on the same day for only the fourth time.
The top seed and 17-time Grand Slam winner lost 6-2, 6-2 to Spanish world number 35 Garbine Muguruza while Venus went out 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Slovak teenager Anna Schmiedlova.
“Obviously I’m super disappointed and, it’s hard,” said defending champion Serena. “But maybe I can do better. I know for a fact I can work harder.
“I will have to work five times as hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” added Serena, who failed to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time as top seed.
It was the earliest exit for a defending champion at Roland Garros since 2005 when Anastasia Myskina of Russia went out in the first round.
With the defeat, the women’s draw has been blown wide open as Serena joins second seed Li Na of China on the list of top casualties to crash out.
For Muguruza, it was the highlight of her career.
“I’m very happy and very excited. It’s my biggest win so far and it’s so amazing,” said the Spaniard.
Djokovic sails through to last-32
Second seed Novak Djokovic, the 2012 runner-up who needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, restored order to the tournament with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Jeremy Chardy of France to reach the last 32.
Djokovic took his record over the world number 42 to 9-0.
“I managed to stay solid from the baseline,” said Djokovic. “I think that forced him to make a lot of unforced errors, which definitely helped me to win in straight sets.”
Roger Federer, the 2009 champion and fourth seed, also reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Argentine qualifier Diego Sebastian Schwartzman. It was Federer’s 60th win at Roland Garros as he goes on to face Russian 31st seed Dmitry Tursunov for a place in the last 16.
Also progressing were Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych who beat Alexsandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 and Milos Raonic, the eighth-seeded Canadian who defeated Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-1.
Aisam-Bopanna make it to second round
Sixth seeds Aisamul Haq Qureshi and doubles partner Rohan Bopanna cruised into the second round at the French Open as they defeated the Australian-Indian duo of Rameez Junaid and Divij Sharan 7-5, 6-7, 7-5 on Wednesday.
In a match lasting for more than two hours, the Indo-Pak Express hit 10 aces compared to Junaid and Shahran’s two and won 114 points during the match.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2014.
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