Bertens Retires While Stephens, Pliskova Advance at French Open; Osaka, Halep, Serena Thurs.
It seems like every day another big name drops in the women’s draw at the French Open. Today, it was the hot-handed Kiki Bertens who quit the tournament just four games into her second round match on Chatrier against Viktoria Kuzmova down 3-1 in the first.
Bertens, who played so well in the lead-up winning Madrid, said she was feeling ill last night and it hadn’t gone away as the match began.
“I felt fine yesterday in practice but this morning I woke up at three o’clock. I was vomiting and had diarrhea all day,” said Bertens.
“I was a little bit better before the match but it started again when I was warming up. There was no energy left,” she added. “It’s bad timing, it’s been a great few weeks.”
So 3 of the Top 6 seeds are already out after Angelique Kerber lost and Petra Kvitova withdrew.
Not soon after, Canadian start Bianca Andreescu withdrew from her match Thursday against Sofia Kenin due to a shoulder. And the day began with Elina Svitolina getting a pass into the third round when Kateryna Kozlova pulled out of the event with a rib problem.
On the court, the remaining big names had their way for the most part as 2018 runner-up Sloane Stephens won a tough second set to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 7-6(3).
“I have had obviously, like, my best consistent results here,” Stephens said. “I like playing here. It suits my game well.”
“Once I get into a good rhythm in the tournament, I have better results,” Stephens added. “I just try to do that. I just try to play the best I can from the very beginning, and just see how it goes.”
Rome champ Karolina Pliskova powered past Kristina Kucova 6-2, 6-2 and former champion Garbine Muguruza defeated Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-1.
“I think it was a better match than the first one,” said Muguruza. “I think we had some great rallies. I could control a little bit more my nerves this match.”
Up next for Muguruza will be Svitolina on Friday.
“I’m highly motivated because she’s one of the top players right now,” said Muguruza of the Ukraine. “[2012] was a very long time ago. So I think now it’s different, and I could watch more and pay attention to our last matches rather than those 2012 qualies. Last time we played was in Dubai… We played excellent matches, long rallies, and very different matches. It’s going to be interesting.”
Also, Marketa Vondrousova won the battle of teens over Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-0. Johanna Konta held off Lauren Davis, Petra Martic scored a good win over Kiki Mladenovic and in the last match on Chatrier, Belinda Bencic was battling Laura Siegemund before darkness put a halt to the match at 4-all in the third.
On the final day of the second round, heavyweights Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Serena Williams all returns along with French No. 1 Caroline Garcia, 2018 semifinalist Madison Keys and rising teen star Amanda Anisimova who takes on Aryna Sabalenka. Osaka will meet former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in what could be the best match of the day.
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