Dr. Buzarnescu Upsets Svitolina at French Open; Insane Saturday Schedule

by Staff | June 1st, 2018, 10:55 pm
  • 6 Comments

Rain shortened the day on Friday at the French Open, but not before a giant upset took out one of the favorites at Roland Garros.
ADHEREL
No. 4 Elina Svitolina, a contender not only for the title but to finish the tournament with the No. 1 ranking, fell 6-3, 7-5 to No. 31 seed Mihaela Buzarnescu.

The Romanian Buzarnescu, a journeywoman until the last year of so when she began playing her best tennis at the age of 30, was making her French Open main draw debut.

“I only wanted to be aggressive and wait for the good shots and just go for it, play angles and move on, move on in the court,” Buzarnescu said afterwards. “Because, otherwise, she would just take advantage of every short ball that I was hitting. Of course, when you start seeing that you’re kind of winning and leading in the match, thoughts are coming. So I had some ups and downs, but I really managed to get through it and play a good match today.”


Dr. Buzarnescu has a Ph.D. in sports science, and began last year ranked outside the Top 500. In 2017 she won seven singles titles on the minor league ITF tour.

The 30-year-old Romanian had never won a main draw match in a Grand Slam event before this week. She struck 31 winners in the match to Svitolina’s 11.

Buzarnescu will next face No. 13 seed Madison Keys, who beat No. 21 seed Naomi Osaka 6-1, 7-6(7).

“She’s really great player with aggressive game and good shots,” Buzarnescu said of Keys. “But, you know, I’m just going to play my own game and just go on the court as a normal match against a player like me.”

No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 14 Daria Kasatkina lined-up a 4th round meeting when the Dane bageled French wildcard Pauline Parmentier 6-0, 6-3, and the Russian weathered a slump to defeat Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

“I feel pretty good,” said Wozniacki, who has lost to Kasatkina twice this year. “I think I played some solid tennis, and I’m happy to be through to the fourth round here again.”

After a troubling second set Kasatkina ran away with the third against Sakkari.

“She was fighting really, really good,” Kasatkina said. “In the second, I got a little bit tight and she came back. I was kind of ready for this because she’s a big fighter for sure. In the third set…I came back with different thoughts in my head.”

Also meeting in the 4th round will be No. 26 Barbora Strycova and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. Strycova beat fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 6-3, and Putintseva put down China’s Qiang Wang1-6, 7-5, 6-4, saving two match points.

Saturday’s embarrassment of riches at Roland Garros includes (3) Garbine Muguruza vs. Sam Stosur, (6) Karolina Pliskova vs. (28) Maria Sharapova, (11) Julia Goerges vs. Serena Williams, (8) Petra Kvitova vs. (25) Anett Kontaveit, (12) Angie Kerber vs. (18) Kiki Bertens, (10) Sloane Stephens vs. Camila Giorgi, (1) Simona Halep vs. Andrea Petkovic, and (16) Elise Mertens vs. (24) Daria Gavrilova.


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Kvitova Comes From a Set Down at WTA Prague, 3rd Title of 2018
Svitolina Seeks First Title Of Year In San Jose; Venus, Anisimona In Field; Vandeweghe Makes Return
Buzarnescu Wallops Sakkari for 1st Career Title at WTA San Jose
Halep Escapes 1st Round Upset; Serena, Maria Up Thursday at French Open

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6 Comments for Dr. Buzarnescu Upsets Svitolina at French Open; Insane Saturday Schedule

Margot Says:

Out goes Petra, so sad. She never looked convincing TBH, looked knackered.
And down the drain goes my bracket too :(
Garbine looks immensely impressive at the mo. Wouldn’t be surprised at all to see her win the trophy.


Margot Says:

And Scharapova jumped all over Pliskova. If Williams comes through, they’ll meet oooer. Maria’s skin looks sun damaged to me, looks weird.


Margot Says:

Sloane through in a hard match, Giorgi fought and fought. Goooo Sloane!


RZ Says:

Yay Sloane!
Boo Petra and Plisko


Margot Says:

Angeeeee! What a fighter she is! What a terrific tie break! And Queen Serena comes through too, rather easily too.


Van Persie Says:

Buzz in trouble today as Keys plays also agressive tennis and is more experienced in latee rounds of tournaments. Hope she finds a tactic against Madison today.
Keys should win this, but Buzz might have a chance, as Keys is not exactly a clay specialist.

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