Serena survives, Roddick brushed aside at French Open
Top seed Serena Williams overcame poor health and a bad second set to defeat Russian teenager and 29 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 in the third round of the French Open, while Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili stunned Roddick with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 score line.
Williams publicized in a post-match press conference that she was suffering from cold and sickness after a medical timeout helped her recover from a second-set defeat to reach the last 16 of the French Open.
The American tennis star dominated the first set before being brought down by the 18 year old Anastasia. The World No.1 was down 5-0 in the second set before being visited by a doctor during a changeover, who gave her pills after checking her temperature.
"I felt really dizzy out there," Williams said. "Just ran out of a little energy out there, just fighting a cold and fighting sickness."
Serena, the 2002 champion, bounced back in the third set serving hard, ripping returns and taking any ball into her wheelhouse and gunning for the lines or for sharp angles, as she steadily improved her court movement.
The overcast centre-court stadium was half empty in the beginning. The Russian, seeded 29th, lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes before bowing to the 12 time Grand Slam Champion.
The win assures Serena a hold on the No.1 ranking after Roland Garros. “On important points she can play incredibly well,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “She can be very aggressive. I remember at 15-40 at 1-1 in the third set, she won two points. She knew it was an important point and she played it extremely well. That is why she won so many Grand Slams. This is also why she has far more experience than I have. I think she can win the tournament.”
The victory sends Serena in the fourth round, where she will face Israeli Shahar Peer, the No.18 seed, who took down France's Marion Bartoli.
Roddick entered the tournament not having played a clay court match this season and while he managed to scratch out two wins, he was underwhelming against the Russian qualifier. After being broken in game seven of the first set, he couldn't get his feet moving, lacked power on his shots, and after throwing his rackets into his bag he never regained his poise.
6th seeded Roddick could only manage 3 sets to his name. The weather and clay on Court Suzanne Lenglen got the worst of him. World number 114 Gabashvili, who even had the more dominating serve, kept Roddick on the defensive.
"I was outplayed from the first ball," he said. "It was not easy for me in these conditions. He has pretty big swings and gets good length on the ball. I am a little shorter and was not able to penetrate the court quite as well. He was getting in control of the rallies most of the day."
Roddick was clearly distressed almost from the start. During a first-set changeover, he threw two wrapped rackets because he was angry about way they had been strung. He was engaged in a long, heated discussion with the umpire about the tarps behind the baseline during another changeover just three games before the end. They were wet from rain, and balls rolling into them became heavy.
“I was not on top of anything today,” said Roddick.
He further added “I got my feet into the last couple of matches and it is a lot different when you can keep it tight and it comes down to two or three points. I am good in that situation, but he got the best of me, and he was getting the best of me in 70 percent of the points as far as the way they were constructed.”
Gabashvili, who finished off Roddick’s chances at the title in just over one hour, 56 minutes, now faces 22nd seed Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who stunned ninth seed David Ferrer in straight sets, in the fourth round (6-4, 6-0, 7-6.)
Tags: