Marion Bartoli enters quarterfinals after Gisela Dulko retires with leg injury – French Open 2011
It was a very successful Sunday afternoon for the world number eleven, Marion Bartoli of France as she reached the quarterfinal of Roland Garros for the first time in her career. She reached the last eight at the Roland Garros
after her Argentine opponent Gisela Dulko announced retirement due to her leg injury while trailing at 5-7, 0-1.
Facing Dulko for the fifth time in her career, who defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia a round earlier, Bartoli quickly composed herself after allowing a 5-2 lead slip, serving out the first set, 7-5. After one game in the second
set, the Argentine asked for a medical time out to have her leg strapped, but after a couple of minutes, her left thigh strain was just too much and she finally decided to call it quits, allowing Bartoli a 7-5, 1-0 win.
"I have mixed feelings - I've known Gisela for 10 years and know how hard it is to retire. I wanted to win this match but when I saw her suffering, it wasn't easy," Bartoli said. "It happened to me last week, and it's the round
of 16, so she was probably suffering a lot or she would have finished today. I hope she's okay."
The world number eleven is thrilled to reach the quarterfinal of her home Grand Slam for the first time in her career. Bartoli had to face early exit from the last year’s French Open where she was ousted by the Israeli tennis ace
Shahar Peer in the third round. However, this time she didn’t disappoint her fans and carried her momentum all the way from the first round to the fourth round, defeating Anna Tatishvili, Olga Govortsova, Julia Goerges and finally Dulko here at the fourth
round.
Up next for the French number one is Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. The Russian player ended the inspiring run of Daniela Hantuchova, who had defeated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark to make it this far. Bartoli and Svetlana have
already met each other at three different occasions with the Russian holding a 2-1 head-to-head edge. However, it’s Bartoli who caused a latest upset at the fourth round of 2010 Miami Masters, where the Frenchwoman battled past the Russian with a 6-3, 6-0
score line.
The Frenchwoman will be gunning for the first quarterfinal final match of her career at the French Open and seems to have fully recovered from her thigh injury which she encountered in her final match against Andrea Petkovic at
the 2011 Strasbourg International. Provided that Bartoli is sufficiently healed, she should have plenty of games to get past Kuznetsova. But if she is hobbled, Kuznetsova hits big off the ground and Bartoli would not be able to bully her around the baseline
like she did with Julia Goerges.
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