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Serena felled; Nadal, Sharapova survive in French
Open Tennis
Paris—Serena Williams trudged out of Roland Garros
on Friday after her French Open dreams were pounded into the red
clay by a tenacious Slovenian who never lost belief.
Less than 24 hours after the tournament was rocked by the defeat of
three top 10 seeds, including David Nalbandian and James Blake, the
American joined them at the exit queue as she roared and screamed
her way to a 6-4 6-4 mauling by Katarina Srebotnik in the third
round.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match, but what can I say? She
just played unbelievable today,” said Williams, who had gone into
the match with a 3-0 record against Srebotnik.
The fifth seed’s defeat also meant a new name would be engraved on
the Suzanne Lenglen Cup next week as she was the only former
champion in the women’s draw.
Her loss cleared the way for a final showdown between Maria
Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, the top two seeds who withstood some
fierce resistance on Friday before marching on.
An erratic Ivanovic overcame a slight wobble in the first set before
downing Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-1 to reach the fourth
round, while Sharapova huffed and puffed her way to a 6-2 3-6 6-2
second-round win over American Bethanie Mattek.
But no amount of on-court dramatics could save Williams.
On the eve of the championships the 2002 winner had declared herself
“100 percent fit” but on Friday it was Srebotnik who always looked
in better shape to advance.
She had the younger of the Williams sisters on the backfoot from the
start, breaking her with a string of stinging winners and by the
closing stages of the set, things went from bad to worse for the
former world number one.
After smashing an easy overhead straight into the net, the fans
gasped in disbelief while a stunned Serena leaned her forehead on
the end of her racket as she stared into the ground.
Moments later the set had vanished from her grasp.
She could have made amends at 4-3 up in the second as she had break
point but a bizarre choice of shot, choosing to hit a drop shot when
she had an open court at her disposal, put paid to those hopes.
Srebotnik punished Williams’s lack of judgment by wrapping up the
match two games later when the American swiped a forehand wide.
“Today, I woke up and knew I had really nothing to lose so I just
took my chances. I’m really happy that today it turned my way,” said
Srebotnik, who made it through to the last 16 of a slam for only the
second time in 35 attempts.—Agencies
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