Tennis

PARIS: Maria Sharapova admitted on Saturday that “numbers don´t lie” as she prepared to face bitter rival Serena Williams, who she has lost to 18 times in a row, in the French Open fourth round. Sharapova, who thrashed Karolina Pliskova in the third round, will face Williams for the 22nd time in the last 16 on Monday, after the American ...

PARIS: Ten-time champion Rafael Nadal breezed into the French Open third round and a clash against childhood friend Richard Gasquet on Thursday, as Maria Sharapova closed in on a potential reunion with longtime rival Serena Williams. Top seed and world number one Nadal, chasing an 11th title, swept past Argentinian Guido Pella 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, showing no signs of the ...

Paris:-Novak Djokovic claims his struggles on the tennis court are insignificant compared to real life problems such as poverty, so he just accepts them. Djokovic progressed to the French Open third round with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4 win over Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar. “To sit here and talk about how tough it is and you have people starving to ...

Paris:-American Serena Williams made a successful return to Grand Slam tennis with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win over Kristyna Pliskova at the French Open. It was a tight contest between the two big servers with the 23-time major winner bouncing back from 3-0 down in the tie-break to take the first set. There were five breaks of serve in the ...

Novak Djokovic made the second round of the French Open after beating Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva. The former world number one, seeded 20th at Roland Garros, went 2-0 down at the start of the first two sets but recovered to come through 6-3 6-4 6-4. The injury-hit Serb, 31, has not won a Grand Slam title since his victory ...

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova came back from a set down to beat Veronica Cepede Royg 3-6 6-1 7-5 and reach the French Open second round. The Czech, among the title favourites, made 17 unforced errors in the first set before finding her rhythm. Second seed Caroline Wozniacki was also tested in her first set before running away with the next ...

British number one Johanna Konta’s struggles at Roland Garros continued as she lost in the French Open first round for the fourth successive year. The 22nd seed lost 6-4 6-3 to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. Konta spoke positively in the build-up about her ability on the red clay, but made too many unforced errors against an opponent ranked 93rd in the ...

PARIS: When Maria Sharapova last played the French Open in 2015, she did so as defending champion. Denied a wildcard by Roland Garros organisers last year on her return from a 15-month doping ban, the Russian was dogged by injury and controversy as she tried to get her career back on track. Now 31, it would have been understandable had ...

Elina Svitolina underlined her status as a top favourite for the French Open by sweeping Simona Halep aside 6-0, 6-4 to successfully defend her Italian Open crown on Sunday. In a repeat of last year’s final at the Foro Italico, Ukrainian Svitolina, seeded fourth, was up against Halep a day after the Romanian top seed had ousted Russian Maria Sharapova. ...

Rafael Nadal survived a stunning fightback from Alexander Zverev to win a record eighth Italian Open. Nadal cruised to the first set before defending champion Zverev won nine of the next 11 games to take the second set 6-1 and lead 3-2 in the decider. But Nadal turned the match around following a lengthy rain delay and closed out a ...