Svitolina bids au revoir

Elina Svitolina, one of the pre-tournament title favourites, was knocked out of Roland-Garros in the third round by a player competing in the event for the first time.

Playing in just her second Grand Slam singles main draw, the 30-year-old Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu, also known as Dr Buzarnescu after she recently obtained her Ph.D. in sport science, defeated the Ukrainian No.4 seed 6-3, 7-5

It was a disappointing end to the clay court season for Svitolina, who has been unable to convert her success on the women’s Tour, where she has now won 12 titles including three this season, into a breakthrough at Grand Slam level.

“It happens,” said Svitolina, one of the pre-tournament favourites after retaining her Rome crown the week before Paris.

“It's days like this, they can happen. Next time, hopefully I can handle it better, I can handle those kind of matches better, have better chances.”

Buzarnescu, who had been ranked 374th a year ago after a string of injuries, plays American Madison Keys in the fourth round after the American beat rising Japanese star Naomi Osaka, 6-1, 7-6 (7).

Dimitrov out

It was a case of deja-vu for Grigor Dimitrov, who once again failed to go beyond the third round on the Parisian clay.

Making his eighth appearance at Roland-Garros, the Bulgarian No.4 seed was beaten by Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in straight sets as he made 44 unforced errors and was broken six times.

A dejected Dimitrov found it hard to explain his poor record and said he may take a break before the grass court season.

“I definitely need to take some time off now to kind of reassess the whole clay court season, to be honest,” said Dimitrov, who won the ATP Finals last year in London.

“That's going to be the No.1 priority for me now to kind of step out from the tennis for a little bit, try to watch some matches and sort of try to progress somehow and just get better.”

Zverev survives thriller

The match between No.2 seed Alexander Zverev and Bosnian Damir Dzumhur had everything: almost four hours of highly entertaining tennis, a narrow escape from match point down and even an accidental crash between a player and a ball boy.

After saving a match point on his serve at 4-5 in the deciding set, Zverev eventually took it 7-5 to move to the fourth round for the first time in his career.

Wozniacki rolls on

Could Caroline Wozniacki be approaching championship form?

The Danish No.2 eased past France’s Pauline Parmentier 6-0, 6-3, taking her grand total of games lost to just 11 after three rounds.

Her next round may be a tad more challenging, as the Australian Open champion plays the 14th seeded Daria Kasatkina for a spot in her second straight quarter-final in Paris.

The Russian has beaten her twice this season, both times on hard court.

Djokovic resembling old self

Having looked somewhat unrecognisable since winning this tournament back in 2016, Roland-Garros 2018 has seen Novak Djokovic perform an increasingly passable impression of...Novak Djokovic.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion overcame tough conditions and a tougher opponent in Roberto Bautista Agut, outlasting the Spaniard 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2 in four hours.

Bautista Agut had served for the third set at 5-3, but Djokovic, as he so used to, found a way to win, and will now face Verdasco in the fourth round.

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