Thursday, May 26, 2016

French Open Day 5 highlights: Controversy erupts

   Five highlights from Day 5 of the French Open:
   1. Alize Cornet of France overcame leg cramps to defeat Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the second round, and each player accused the other of poor sportsmanship afterward.
   Cornet, the 2007 French Open junior girls champion who stunned Serena Williams in the third round at Wimbledon two years ago, repeatedly received treatment during changeovers in the third set.
   After winning, Cornet fell on her back in celebration. Maria, instead of waiting at the net, shook hands with the chair umpire and put her racket in her back before walking to the net near the chair to shake hands with Cornet. Maria then scolded Cornet while wagging a finger at her as the partisan crowd booed.
   "It's not fair play, what she did ... she had cramps," said the 28-year-old Maria, one of the few mothers on the WTA tour. "She takes physio for her left leg because her right leg was cramping."
   Said Cornet, 26: "She told me I was unfair. But it is she who was unfair, asking the umpire to give me time warnings."
   Cornet and Maria are scheduled to meet again in the second round of women's doubles on Friday.
   2. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and fourth-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced in straight sets. Nadal has lost only nine games in two matches (six sets).
   Djokovic is attempting to become the eighth man to achieve a career Grand Slam in singles. Nadal is trying to become the first player in the Open era, which began in 1968, to win 10 singles titles in a Grand Slam tournament.
   3. Sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, bidding to become the first Frenchman to win Roland Garros since Yannick Noah 33 years ago, avoided elimination with a 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
   Tsonga, 31, and Baghdatis, who will turn 31 on June 17, were born exactly two months apart. Also, each has lost in the Australian Open in his only Grand Slam final. Tsonga fell to Djokovic in 2008 and Baghdatis to Roger Federer in 2006.
   The primary difference between the two is size: Tsonga is 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 200 pounds (91 kilograms), and Baghdatis is 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 181 pounds (82 kilograms).
   Baghdatis won the 2014 Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, Calif.
Naomi Osaka, 18, of Japan has reached the third round
of the French Open. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman
   4. No. 1 seed Serena Williams and No. 9 Venus Williams advanced with 6-2, 6-1 victories. Serena overwhelmed Teliana Pereira of Brazil, and Venus routed 20-year-old qualifier Louisa Chirico in an all-American matchup.
   5. Four teenagers have reached the third round: 18-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan and 19-year-old Daria Kasatkina of Russia on the women's side, and 19-year-olds Borna Coric of Croatia and Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's draw.
   In Osaka's main-draw debut on the WTA tour at 16, she stunned 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round of the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. The 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Osaka, who has a Haitian father and Japanese mother, survived a match point at 6-7 in the tiebreaker and overcame a 3-5 deficit in the third set.
   Osaka next will meet sixth-seeded Simona Halep, the 2014 runner-up to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros.
   Northern California results
Men's doubles
First round
   Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5), former Stanford All-Americans from the United States, def. Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Poland, and Santiago Gonzalez, Mexico, 6-2, 6-3.
Second round
   Eric Butorac, United States, and Scott Lipsky, former Stanford All-American from the United States, def. Raven Klaasen, South Africa, and Rajeev Ram (8), United States, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Women's doubles
First round
   Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic, Germany, def. Nicole Gibbs, former Stanford All-American from the United States, and Heather Watson, Great Britain, 6-4, 6-4. 
Mixed doubles
First round
   Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (6), France, def. Anabel Medina-Garrigues, Spain, and Scott Lipsky, former Stanford All-American from the United States, 6-2, 6-2. 

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