Halep, Svitolina Wednesday Winners At French Open; Serena, Azarenka Out

Tournament favorite Simona Halep got through her countrywoman Irina Camilia Begu 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the third round.

Halep, who won the French Open in 2018, stayed perfect against fellow Romanians at 13-0.

“It’s never easy to play against a Romanian and against Irina, we played so many times it’s never easy,” Halep said. “She’s a very strong opponent and she’s also powerful, the serve is really strong. Today the court was heavy so I couldn’t return very well, but I managed well in the end and I think I played the right game when I needed to.”

Halep will now have a showdown with a very in form Amanda Anisimova. The American Anisimova has lost a total of four games in four sets. The 19-year-old just beat Bernarda Pera 6-2, 6-0 today and she beat Halep last year in a stunning quarterfinal.

“It’s one year between, so it’s going to be a little bit tough to explain now how it’s going to be. But I’m going to talk with the coach, I know it’s going to be tough because she’s hitting the ball strong and flat, so it’s going to be tough.”

Former semifinalist Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens both won three setters. Svitolina got past Renata Zarazua of Mexico.

Meanwhile, Bertens survived underhand serves and cramps to beat former finalist Sara Errani 7-6(5), 3-6, 9-7.

All told, there were 24 breaks of serve in the match, 11 along in the third set!

Errani walked off the court without acknowledging the win while Bertens left in wheelchair.

“I don’t like when somebody is joking on you. She played an amazing match, but I don’t like the situation,” Errani said.

“For one hour she’s injured, then she run like never. I don’t like that.

“She goes out of the court on the chair, and now she’s in the locker room perfect, in the restaurant. I don’t like these things.

“Then after people say to me that I’m an unfair person. It’s funny for me these things. I don’t think she did a good attitude on court. I didn’t like that.”

Elise Mertens, Euguenie Bouchard and Caroline Garcia also were winners.

On the down side, 3-time champion Serena Williams withdrew just hours before her rematch with Tsvetana Pironkova. Serena cited her Achilles for the reason.

“I warmed up and it was a very short warm-up,” Serena said. “I talked to my coach and I was like, what do you think? What are your thoughts with this? We both thought about it and we really realized that more than likely it wasn’t the best to try and play today.”

Another favorite, Victoria Azarenka, went bust. The former No. 1 was blown out by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-2. And Rising star Coco Gauff had her French Open come to an end at the hands of Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

“I’m really happy, but I think I need more time to realize what happened tonight,” said lefty Trevisan after her first Top 100 win.

“I work every day to be here, to be in the third round of Grand Slam. It’s not easy to reach this result, but I wake up every morning to think about my dream, and today, it realized one of my dreams.”

The 26-year-old Trevisan will now meet Maria Sakkari.

On Thursday for the conclusion of the third round, surprise Grand Slam champions Sofia Kenin and Jelena Ostapenko are in action.

Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French title, will battle former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova. And Karolina’s sister, Kristyna, will test 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza.

Former semifinalist Petra Kvitova is also on court.

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