Spaniards continue dominant run at Roland Garros

Both Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro advanced to the quarterfinals of the French Open today. Muguruza took out wild card Pauline Parmentier, the last Frenchwoman standing, in straight sets (6-4, 6-2). Parmentier fought as hard as she could againt the rising Spanish star, but to no avail.

Suarez Navarro, seeded 14th, had to deal with yet another of the tournament's upstarts, Ajla Tomljanovic. She defeated Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3.

No one had an easier time of it than Genie Bouchard, who needed just 51 minutes to roll 8th seed Angelique Kerber into a German pancake. Bouchard was simply relentless, hitting 30 winners and making only eleven unforced errors. She was successful nine of nine times at the net, and she should be, shall we say. pretty rested for her quarterfinal meeting with Suarez Navarro.

And then there was 'Pova. She lost the first set (double-faulting on the final point) to an aggressive and on-target Sam Stosur. Then, with the Russian serving at 3-4, 30-all in the second set, something happened. Actually, two things happened: Stosur began her not quite inevitable but not unusual decline, and Sharapova turned on whatever switch it is that she turns on when it looks like she's close to losing to someone she's accustomed to dominating. The 2012 champion won nine straight games, and really, Stosur might just as well have been in the stands for most of it.

Sharapova went a bit crazy out there. At 5-0, she was yelling and shaking her fist like someone performing in Le Theatre National de Bartoli. What can you say, except this is Maria at her fighting best, and this is Stosur at her--well, you know.

The two top doubles seeds--Hsieh and Peng, and Errani and Vinci--both advanced today.

Kerber and Stosur weren't the only entities to collapse today. The Roland Garros app for the iPhone and iPad died--I don't know whether the Android app went out with it. I woke up early this morning and found that my phone app wouldn't open, but it was hours before my iPad app stopped functioning. According to a report on Roland Garros Radio, officials are "working on it."

French Open--what they said

I've been more relaxed than last year.
Sara Errani

I had to fight a lot and stay calm and defend a lot of balls.
Svetlana Kuznetsova

My confidence is rising, and that's the most important.
Jelena Jankovic

The sun, I think, helped me a bit, so I'm happy for the sun.
Sara Errani

Are you like a different person when you get to these tournaments?
No, not really.
Sloane Stephens

I found my good way to play, and I found a way to be relaxed on court and just to take the pleasure without pressure.
Simona Halep

...I haven't enjoyed any French wine this week, so that's okay, but I'm enjoying the baguettes.
Sam Stosur

Sharapova favored to advance to quarterfinals

Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur have played each other 15 times, and Sharapova has won 13 of those matches. Stosur's two wins came on hard courts, while Sharapova has won all three of their clay court matches. Should Sharapova prevail again tomorrow, she'll face either Garbine Muguruza or wild card Pauline Parmentier in the quarterfinals. Logic tells us that she'll face Muguruza, which might be interesting.

Muguruza, in my opinion, is technically more vulnerable to a Jankovic- or Halep-type player than she is to a Sharapova, in that those players would instinctively know how to move her around and expose her vulnerability. Having said that, I should add that for the Spaniard to beat Sharapova, she would have to play the same kind of "first strike over and over" game that she played against Serena Williams. As Vika might say, "good luck with that." All the same, an interesting proposition. Muguruza gets a shot at pressuring Sharapova to go for too much on her second serve and double-fault, though that hasn't stopped the Russian from winning before.

Angelique Kerber and Genie Bouchard have played each other only once, it was on a hard court, and Kerber won in three sets. The German says that her back injury has completely healed. If that's the case, she'll be quite a challenge for the young Canadian.

Probably the most interesting of the matches to be played tomorrow is the one that features Ajla Tomljanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro. Suarez Navarro has a history of serious choking, but she recently, finally, won her first tour title. On the other hand, this is a major, and there could be some regression. Tomljanovic has faced her demons at this tournament, and seems the more relaxed for it. At any rate--unless something goes really wrong--this has the potential to really be a match worth watching.

The round of 16 matches created by today's play are pretty interesting, too. A resurgent (for now) Svetlana Kuznetsova made her way past Petra Kvitova (I got to see only some of this completely frustrating yet exciting match, but Todd has written a detailed description of it), who had the match on her racket and let it go. It probably could have been called the Battle of the Talented Head Cases.

Anyway, Kuznetsova will play Lucie Safarova in the next round, and since both are so good on clay, the match should be a spectator's delight. Jelena Jankovic will play Sara Errani, and that promises to be a battle. Qualifier Kiki Bertens, who has emerged more or less out of nowhere, gets Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic is certainly favored to win, but the way things are going, we can't count on anything.

Finally, Sloane Stephens will play 4th seed Simona Halep, who has lost only eleven games so far. Stephens is 2-1 against Halep, but Halep won their only match on clay, which was in 2012, before the Romanian became the force that she is today.

When the tournament began, there were five former champions competing. Now there are two--Sharapova and Kuznetsova. There are also two former finalists, Stosur and Errani, who are still in the draw.

For a detailed list of interesting French Open stats, see WTA Backspin.

Kuznetsova into French Open round of 16

2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova took her 2014 campaign another step today when she upset 5th seed Petra Kvitova 6-7, 6-1, 9-7 in their 3-hour and 13-minute third round match. Next up for Kuznetsova is yet another left-handed Czech, Lucie Safarova. Safarova, for the fifth consecutive time, defeated Ana Ivanovic (6-3, 6-3). Apparently, all the commentators who have told us over and over in the last couple of days that Ivanovic was now a favorite to win the title failed to look at the draw. Or maybe they just didn't realize what it means when Safarova is in the Serb's draw, since I suspect they don't watch women's tennis.

For those who were hoping for a Kiki vs. Kiki event--sorry, it isn't going to happen. Kiki Bertens is still around; she quickly defeated Silvia Soler-Espinosa (6-2, 6-1) in today's French Open third round. But Kiki Mladenovic--despite putting up a big fight--lost her third round match to Charleston champion Andrea Petkovic. It was one of those matches in which you really didn't know, until the last moment, who was going to win. Petko served for the match at 5-3 in the third and was broken, continuing a pattern that had gone on throughout the event. But in the end, Petkovic won, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Sloane Stephens defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4 and used her Tennis Channel post-match interview to take a smiling swipe at her next opponent, Simona Halep. "She's played really, really well at the smaller tournaments, which I haven't," Stephens said. It is kind of pitiful, isn't it--winning Moscow and Doha? For her part, Halep, reached the round of 16 by beating Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-3, 6-0.

Jelena Jankovic defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2, and 2012 finalist Sara Errani defeated Julia Glushko 6-0, 6-1. Jankovic and Errani will face each other in the round of 16.

In doubles competition, there was a big second round upset today. Julie Coin (remember Julie Coin?) and Pauline Parmentier upset 3rd seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The Chan sisters went out too, as did Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears. Spears, half of the top-seeded mixed doubles team (with Alexander Peya), got knocked out of that competition, too. Spears and Peya were upset by Arantxa Parra Santonja and Santiago Gonzalez.

Road to Roland Garros

Why are you so upset?

Building in Paris

The defeat of Aga Radwanska today by Ajla Tomljanovic marks the first time in the Open Era that the three top seeds have gone out of a major tournament before the round of 16. On the one hand, it means that Li Na's description of the WTA as "the crazy women's tennis tour" was right on the mark. But on the other hand, it means that the younger generation of players is undergoing a kind of group inspiration (as Tomljanovic implied) in Paris.

Clay is known as the "upset" surface because the slowness of the surface and the heaviness of the balls (especially in damp conditions, like we've seen lately in Paris) neutralizes power, creating longer rallies. Also, players--no matter how good they are--can run into problems if they aren't adept at sliding. One of the great oddities of professional tennis, in fact, is that Chris Evert is the all time Queen of Clay, despite the fact that she was born and trained in the United States.

Getting back to the "inspiration" part: If a Frenchwoman known for her doubles skills can take out former French Open champion Li Na in the first round, then a small crack has been made in what commentators and writers like to call "the order of things." So then a talented young Spaniard upsets Serena Williams. What next?! Well, that would be a talented young Croatian player showing the exit to Aga Radwanska.

Does it stop there, or does Muguruza's countrywoman, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, plan to take it to Simona Halep? I think it stops there, but surely Torro-Flor is feeling a bit of the spirit as I write this. (If we keep going with this list, the next supposed victim is Petra Kvitova, who has to face a former French Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova. I actually like Kvitova to win this match, but even if she loses it, it won't be to a young and suddenly inspired upstart.)

Blair Henley has written an analysis for the WTA called "The Anatomy Of an Upset," and it's worth reading.

Another thing to consider is the makeup of the top three seeds. On any big occasion, Li is as likely to go out in the first or second round as she is to lift a trophy, and Radwanska just doesn't like playing at the French Open. As for Williams, it really didn't come as a big shock to me that she fell to Muguruza. I think Muguruza is quite vulnerable to someone who can move her around a lot, unless, that is, she does that "rapid fire from the first shot right to the end" thing that she did to Williams. And can she (or anyone) really keep that up? It was an amazing display of aggression, but there was also psychological cooperation from the opponent.

To her credit, Muguruza kept her head together and defeated Anna Schmiedlova, who's not an easy customer. The Spaniard gets another member of the "upset group," Pauline Parmentier, next, and that's a match she can win. If she does, then she gets a shot at either Sam Stosur or Maria Sharapova.

Tomljanovic has a tougher upcoming round: She plays Carla Suarez Navarro. Meanwhile, Kristina Mladenovic--who also made it through the second round after the big upset--has a third round meeting scheduled with Andrea Petkovic. Really, anything can happen. Best to not let it upset you.

French Open--what they said

If I got a wild card into Wimbledon, I would pass out right now.
Taylor Townsend

...I think she’s very unique. She has great hands. She has power, and we always say she really is retro to the new age. She has everything, and she has both, so it’s just a matter of putting it all together.
Zina Garrison, referring to Townsend

After seeing the two first seeds go out, you kind of feel like, "I can do this, too."
Ajla Tomljanovic

I have beaten her before. I know what it takes. I know I have to play very well against her. I know there are certain things I have to do well and if I don't, then it makes life very, very tough that day.
Sam Stosur, on playing Sharapova

I don't think it was my day today.
Agnieszka Radwanska

I know everyone always says it, but it really works.
Ajla Tomljanovic, on the subject of "one match at a time"

It's difficult to find your rhythm against her, but I managed the game.
Carla Suarez Navarro

Jamais, jamais, jamais, jamais, jamais.
Marion Bartoli, on a possible comeback