Wozniacki out of French Open
Caroline Wozniacki's wait for a first Grand Slam title goes on after she was beaten 6-1 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 by Kaia Kanepi in the third round of the French Open last night.
The Dane has had a poor year, dropping from world number one to number nine, but had looked in decent form in her opening two matches at Roland Garros.
Kanepi, a powerful Estonian seeded 23rd, had far too much for Wozniacki for most of the first two sets, while the 21-year-old also lost her cool, vociferously disputing a line call with both the umpire and then the supervisor.
But from 6-1 5-1 Kanepi began to get tense and Wozniacki let loose, saving two match points in the eighth game of the second set and then fighting back to take it on a tie-break.
She could not carry the momentum into the decider, though, and again found herself trailing 5-1.
Kanepi missed one more match point when she served a double fault, but this time there was no way back for Wozniacki, the Estonian finally getting the job done on her fifth chance after two minutes short of three hours.
Wozniacki, who has recently begun working with former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, said: "It's disappointing to lose, especially in a round like this. Of course I'd hoped for more but it wasn't possible this time.
"I definitely fought to the end, I didn't give up and I can be happy with that. But it wasn't enough."
The 21-year-old pulled no punches in her criticism of the officials, saying: "When the ball is clearly out, I don't think there should be anything to argue about.
"If they cannot see, they should have other umpires on the lines or have HawkEye on these courts. It's a disgrace that mistakes like this are made."
In contrast, Maria Sharapova made it only five games lost in three matches with another Parisian stroll, but she knows there will be much tougher challenges ahead if she is to win her first Roland Garros crown.
Peng Shuai, who has a win over the Russian to her name in 2009, at least did better than Alexandra Cadantu and Ayumi Morita in winning three games, but Sharapova was still largely untroubled, coming through 6-2 6-1.
The second seed, who next meets Czech Klara Zakopalova, said: "I'm certainly happy with the way I've performed in these matches and followed through. I did everything I had to do.
"But in the next round, it starts from 0-0. Whoever you're playing, you have to go and try and do the same thing. There are a lot more rounds to go. It just gets tougher from this point.
"And you hope as the tournament goes on that you raise your level. You're going to be facing tougher opponents, you're going to be maybe facing two three-setters, and you just have to be ready for that."
Zakopalova ended the campaign of 22nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova today, the 30-year-old winning 6-3 7-5 to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for only the second time in her career.
American Varvara Lepchenko is having her best slam, and she ensured there will be no third final in a row here for Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
The 14th seed, who beat Sam Stosur in 2010 then lost to Li Na last year, took the first set reasonably comfortably but was pegged back by Lepchenko.
The third set was a topsy-turvy affair, with the American serving for the match at 5-3 only for Schiavone to level, but Lepchenko broke again and then saved four break points on her own serve before finally taking it 3-6 6-3 8-6.
The 26-year-old was born and grew up in Uzbekistan but moved to America a decade ago after travelling there to play in a tournament.
"After we arrived in the United States we didn't come back, because there was no future for me, no future for my career," she said. "I wouldn't have been able to make it as far as I am right now if I was back in Uzbekistan."
Lepchenko next meets Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, who, like defending champion Li Na, survived a three-setter today. Li saw off 20-year-old American Christina McHale 3-6 6-2 6-1 while Kvitova was a 6-2 4-6 6-1 winner over Nina Bratchikova.
Meanwhile, an unhappy Julia Goerges crashed out to Arantxa Rus, who knocked out Kim Clijsters last year, in a late-night match on Court 7.
Goerges, the 25th seed, complained throughout the third set about the light but the match continued and Dutchwoman Rus, who next meets Kanepi, triumphed 7-6 (7/5) 2-6 6-2.
