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Serena eliminated; Sharapova, Ivanovic advance in Paris

Fri 30th, May 2008

Paris, France (Sports Network) - Serena Williams, the only former champion in the women's draw at the French Open, was eliminated in third-round play Friday at Roland Garros.

The top two women's seeds, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, each posted victories on Friday, while Venus Williams also made an early exit.

Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik, the 27th seed, pulled off the 6-4, 6-4 upset of the fifth-seeded Williams. The American star captured the 2002 French Open crown and had reached at least the quarterfinals in her three subsequent appearances in Paris.

Williams had her serve broken three times, including the first game of the match. She also had 25 unforced errors and a mere five winners.

"I just felt like I missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of key points that I felt like could have turned the match around," Williams said. "I wasn't able to capitalize on a lot of that."

The third-round ouster marked the earliest Grand Slam defeat for the eight- time major champion since a third-round setback at the 2006 Australian Open. She last won a Grand Slam title at the 2007 Australian Open and advanced only as far as the quarterfinals in each of her last four Grand Slam events.

"I knew it was going to be a tough match, but what can I say? She just played unbelievable today," Williams added.

Flavia Pennetta, the Italian 26th-seed dispatched the other Williams later Friday, with a straight-set 7-5, 6-3 decision.

Sharapova notched a second-round victory Friday, but was taken to three sets for the second time in as many matches. The top-seeded Russian was two points away from defeat on Wednesday in her first round match against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, and on Friday earned a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win against American Bethanie Mattek.

"I'm not a clay court specialist that's going to stand 10 feet behind the baseline and retrieve balls back," Sharapova said about her play in the first two rounds. "I'm going to stick to my guns and do what I do best. But I'm also going to play patiently if I want to win matches, especially against physically-challenging players that do hit 10 balls back."

Next up for the reigning Australian Open champ will be Italy's Karin Knapp in the third round on Saturday.

Ivanovic, meanwhile, captured a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. The second-seeded Serb was the French Open runner-up last year to the now-retired Justine Henin.

"She gave me a tough match today and I struggled a little bit with my rhythm," Ivanovic remarked. "I wasn't moving towards the net as much as I wanted to. Because she's a tough opponent, I had to be aggressive and step up. That's something I wasn't doing and I wasn't happy about in the first set. In the second set I started doing a little bit better and moving towards the net more."

Petra Cetkovska won a battle of Czechs with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Iveta Benesova and will face Ivanovic in the fourth round. Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the 14th seed, disposed of 19th-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, 6-4, 6-4.

In other third-round play, 10th-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland knocked off France's Emilie Loit, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round match with Srebotnik. Schnyder has been eliminated in the fourth round in each of the last three French Opens, while Srebotnik is into the round of 16 at a Grand Slam for only the second time in her 10-year career -- matching her fourth round appearance at the 2002 French Open.

Also, Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro, in her French Open debut, moved on with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Australia's Casey Dellacqua. Suarez Navarro pulled off an upset of French favorite Amelie Mauresmo in the second round.

Two other second-round matches were completed Friday, as the tournament got back on schedule following rain earlier in the week.

Russians Vera Zvonareva and Nadia Petrova both advanced to round three. The 11th-seeded Zvonareva cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France, while the 25th-seeded Petrova ousted fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova with a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Zvonareva will meet Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak in the third round on Saturday and Petrova earned a date with fourth-seeded fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 French runner-up.

The late second-round match between third-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic and Slovakia's 28-seed Dominika Cibulkova was suspended due to darkness, and will resume Saturday with Jankovic leading, 7-5, 4-2.

Also Saturday, 2004 runner-up and seventh-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva will tackle Olga Govortsova of Belarus and still another Russian, 13th-seeded Dinara Safina, will square off against China's Jie Zheng.

There will be three matches without a Russian flavor, as 12th-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay meets Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic; 16th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus plays 18th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone; and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain takes on Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

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