Sports
Swiatek sets up last eight clash with Gauff after Tsurenko quits
Rune, Haddad Maia win epic duels as Jabeur enterS last eight stage, Ruud returns to quarter-finals
June 06, 2023 | 12:13 AM
Defending champion and world number one Iga Swiatek set-up a French Open quarter-final clash against Coco Gauff on Monday after Lesia Tsurenko retired from their last-16 clash through illness.Swiatek was leading 5-1 in the first set when the 66th-ranked Tsurenko, who had called the doctor after experiencing dizziness and shortness of breath, decided not to continue.The 31-minute match on Court Suzanne Lenglen followed two matches which had taken almost eight hours to complete. Gauff reached the quarter-finals for a third successive year with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia. Last year Swiatek defeated Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the final to win the title for a second time.Swiatek is bidding to become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to successfully defend the women’s title in Paris. The 22-year-old Pole has had a smooth ride. Four of her six sets have been ‘bagels’ where an opponent fails to win a single game. Hapless Wang Xinyu was double-bageled by the Pole in the last 32, going down to defeat in just 51 minutes.Meanwhile, Holger Rune and Beatriz Haddad Maia triumphed in marathon epics yesterday. World number six Rune reached a second successive quarter-final in a controversial five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo.The 20-year-old Dane came through 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7) after four hours and will face 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud in a repeat of last year’s bad-tempered quarter-final. However, Rune was booed by the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd for hitting the ball on a double bounce in the fourth game of the third set.His 23rd seeded Argentine opponent stopped playing, expecting the umpire to call the point for him. Play continued and Cerundolo, who was called for hindrance when he halted, dropped serve. Cerundolo, playing in the second week of a Slam for the first time, then had the crowd on its feet when he hit back to level the match.In a dramatic decider, Rune survived being 3-4, 0-40 to hold and break. He served for the match at 5-4 but the 24-year-old from Buenos Aires hit back to level for 5-5 and held for 6-5 before the match went to a knife-edge tiebreak. Rune finished the match with 48 winners and 73 unforced errors.Haddad won the third longest ever women’s match at Roland Garros to become the first Brazilian woman in the last eight of a Slam since 1968.Haddad Maia battled from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Sara Sorribes Tormo in three hours and 51 minutes. The 27-year-old Brazilian left-hander came through 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5 against her 132nd-ranked Spanish opponent on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the venue also for the Rune-Cerundolo clash later in the afternoon.The match was just 16 minutes short of the record four hours and seven minutes it took Virginie Buisson to beat French compatriot Noelle van Lottum in the first round at Roland Garros in 1995. Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman in a Slam quarter-final since seven-time major winner Maria Bueno in 1968.She will face world number seven Ons Jabeur of Tunisia for a place in the semi-finals. "I am very happy and very proud that I didn’t give up and I think that is why I deserved this victory,” said Haddad Maia.Haddad Maia, ranked 14, claimed victory on a fourth match point after squandering three in the ninth game of the decider. The Brazilian, who saved a match point in her previous round against Ekaterina Alexandrova, is no stranger to energy-sapping duels.In Rome last month, she dropped a three-hour 41-minute quarter-final to Anhelina Kalinina, now the second longest women’s match of 2023.Jabeur powered into the quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Bernarda Pera, breaking the American’s serve eight times. Jabeur, a Wimbledon and US Open runner-up last year, has now reached at least the quarter-finals of all four Slams. "It was the only Grand Slam missing. I’m very happy with the performance,” said Jabeur.Fourth-ranked Ruud, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal a year ago, beat in-form Nicolas Jarry of Chile 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-5 to seal a quarter-final spot. The Norwegian saved 14 of 17 break points and now has a tour-leading 85 clay court wins since 2020."It was three very, very difficult sets. How long would it have been if we had gone to a fifth set?” said the 24-year-old after a three-hour 20-minute battle.Fourth round results(x denotes seeded player)Men: Holger Rune (DEN x6) bt Francisco Cerundolo (ARG x23) 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7); Casper Ruud (NOR x4) bt Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-5Women: Iga Swiatek (POL x1) bt Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) 5-1 - retired; Coco Gauff (USA x6) bt Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) 7-5, 6-2; Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA x14) bt Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5; Ons Jabeur (TUN x7) bt Bernarda Pera (USA) 6-3, 6-1
June 06, 2023 | 12:13 AM