In Paris, the upstarts keep upstarting

At 28, former No. 26 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova has finally broken into the second week of a slam https://t.co/dIvh1dZ0ru

— Jakub Bobro (@bobrojakub) June 3, 2023

There are always upsets, and especially on clay, so it's no surprise that some big names dropped out of the French Open early. It does seem especially dramatic this year, though, because of the presence of a couple of young players whose names will become better known soon enough. 16-year-ld Mirra Andreeva, who already had plenty of buzz going around her, won three qualifying rounds, then made it to the third round, in which she took a set off of 6th seed Coco Gauff. 

Then there was lucky loser Elina Avanesya, who began her campaign by upsetting 12h seed Belinda Bencic, then went on to also take out young star Clara Tauson. Avanesya is the first lucky loser in 30 years to advance to the round of 16 of a major (only five players have accomplished this). And in that round of 16, Avanesya will face Karolina Muchova, which should be quite a test for the 20-year-old. Muchova, by the way, upset 8th seed Maria Sakkari in the first round.

Not all of the upstarts are among the very young. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, whose up-and-down career has always leaned toward the "up" part when Schmiedlova plays on clay, has reached the French Open round of 16 for the first time. Schmiedlova, who possesses an especially potent backhand, began with a bang, taking out 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova. She then went on to win two more rounds and has yet to drop a set. 

Then there's Bernarda Pera, who began with a win over Anett Kontaveit, knocked out 22nd seed Donna Vekic, then defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto, the 22-year-old who upset Petra Kvitova in the first round.

It was a big first week for Ukrainian players. Elina Svitolina, returning to Paris as a new mom, won her first three rounds, but it was veteran Lesia Tsurenko who pulled off the shock upset: She defeated 2021 champion Barbora Krejicikova in the first round. Then, in the third round, she allowed only two games from a visibly sluggish Bianca Andreescu.

But the biggest upset was the one that commentators aren't even talking about: Krejcikova and her partner, Katerina Siniakova, the top seeds, lost in the first round of doubles to the unseeded Ulrikke Eikrei and Eri Hozumi, who defeated them 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. 

A good deal is being made of the fact that Krejcikova has gone out in the first round for two years straight, but this is not a fair assessment of the situation. In 2022, she was just coming back from a long injury layoff, and it didn't seem odd at all that she would make an early exit (but hey--who cares about context, right?). This year's upset, however, was shocking.

Last year, Krejcikova and Siniakova almost won the Grand Slam. They won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. However, they were unable to play at the French Open (where I feel reasonably sure they would have won the title) because Krejcikova was ill and the team had to withdraw. There is currently talk that the Czech pair has now missed a chance to win a non-calendar year Slam, so I'll take this opportunity to say: There is no such thing--you win the Grand Slam (and, by the way, a major is not a grand slam) or you don't. 

Krejcikova hasn't had an especially good clay season, but I did expect her to get past the first round, or even to come alive on the clay again and do something big. She and Iga Swiatek were on a collision course in the draw, which would have been interesting, since the Czech star has defeated the world number 1 twice in finals. Those finals were on hard courts, and it may be that it will be on hard courts that we see the best of Krejcikova in the future.

Here is the singles round of 16 draw:

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Lesia Tsurenko
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs. Coco Gauff (6)
Sara Sorribes Tormo vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (14)
Bernarda Pera vs. Ons Jabeur (7)
Karolina Muchova vs. Elina Avanesya (LL)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Elise Mertens (28)
Elina Svitolina vs. Daria Kasatkina (9)
Sloane Stephens vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2)

My greatest viewing hope is that the Sorribes Tormo vs. Haddad Maia match is on at a time that I can watch it; it has the potential to be an intense clay contest.