Venus Williams and Andy Murray out of French Open
Venus Williams and Andy Murray were the two highest seeds to tumble out of the French Open draw on the second Sunday of the tournament.
Williams, the second seed in the women’s draw at Roland Garros, lost in straight sets to 19th seed Nadia Petrova in their fourth-round match.
Petrova, who had defeated Madrid Open titlist Aravane Rezai in her third-round match, defeated Williams 6-4, 6-3 to move through to the quarter-finals in Paris.
“She served well. She didn't really make a lot of errors today,” Williams, who had been struggling with unforced errors herself during the early rounds of the competition, said of Petrova after the match.
“Today I didn't find a good rhythm. You just have to have a really good rhythm out there on the clay...I didn't make the plays that I was anticipating to make.
“I'm obviously disappointed. It's not ideal, but, I mean, I feel like I had a day where I want to hit the ball crosscourt and it went down the line. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes when it gets really cold, too, it's hard to feel the racquet. Especially in Europe it gets really cold. It just wasn't a good day.”
Another who didn’t have a good day was men’s fourth seed Andy Murray, whose stay at the French Open was finally ended by Tomas Berdych in the round of 16. The Czech handed the British No. 1 a straight sets defeat, knocking Murray out of the tournament 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
While both players gained plenty of free points on serve – Murray served 14 aces, and Berdych 10 – the 15th seed unleashed 37 winners for the match compared to Murray’s 14.
The other players to move through to the quarter-finals on day eight at Roland Garros were top seed Roger Federer, last year’s beaten finalist Robin Soderling and Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, who got a free pass to the final eight after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired after the first set of their match on Philippe Chatrier Court.
In the women’s draw, Justine Henin sealed a fourth round berth after returning to the court to complete her third-round match against Maria Sharapova. The former world No. 1s were tied at one set apiece when bad light forced them off the court on Saturday night.
Along with Petrova, Elena Dementieva, third seed Caroline Wozniacki, and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone are all through to the quarter-finals of the women’s singles.
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