Ivanovic and Sharapova Into Roland Garros Round of 16
The seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic is headed to the fourth round of the 2015 French Open after a dominant 6-0, 6-3 win over Donna Vekic on Friday.
"After the first two matches I really started to get a little bit of feeling and groove, and I had an easy day yesterday," Ivanovic said. "Today, I really had a strict game plan. I had an idea what I wanted to do, and obviously the confidence from the first two matches helped me in today's performance, as well. Those first two matches I really felt like I had kind of a slow start, and it was something I really wanted to change today. I was happy I did that. I was really happy that I was able to change that."
Ivanovic, winner of the French Open back in 2008, will next face the ninth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova, a winner on Friday against her doubles partner and fellow compatriot Elena Vesnina, 6-2, 6-4. Ivanovic and Makarova have never met each other on clay before, and each have a victory in two career head-to-head matchups. Makarova has won 17 of her last 20 Grand Slam matches.
France’s Alizé Cornet, the number 29 seed, is also into the fourth round, a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni on Friday in two hours and 32 minutes. The hometown favorite Cornet will next meet the 19th-seeded Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine, a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 winner Friday over Germany’s Annika Beck.
Catering to her supportive home crowd, Cornet celebrated her victory as if she had won the championship, lying on her back, letting out a scream and then bursting into tears.
Cornet is into the second week of a major for the third time, having made the fourth round of the 2009 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2014, while Svitolina is in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. Cornet is 2-0 head-to-head against Svitolina in two career meetings.
"At last, I'm into the second week at Roland,” said Cornet. “I've been waiting for this for 11 years.”
The number two-seeded Maria Sharapova also moved into round four on Friday, a 6-3, 6-4 straight sets winner in a little over 90 minutes over Australian Samantha Stosur. Sharapova, the defending Women’s Singles champ, notched her 15th win over Stosur in 17 career meetings, and will next face the 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova, a 6-3, 7-6(2) winner over the number 20 seed, Sabine Lisicki. Sharapova holds a 4-1 head-to-head edge over Safarova in five career meetings.
The number 21 seed, Garbine Muguruza of Spain, also moved on to round four on Friday, taking care of the 11th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The win marked Muguruza's first ever triumph over Kerber in five career matchups, as she returns to the Round of 16 at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. Muguruza awaits the winner of the match between the number eight seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and the 28th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
