Shelby Rogers shocks No. 10 seed Kvitova in French Open

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  • Great result: Shelby Rogers.

    Two-time Wimbledon champion and No. 10 seed Petra Kvitova was sent packing by world No. 108 Shelby Rogers in the third round at Roland Garros on Friday, while Andy Murray recaptured his form in a smooth win over Ivo Karlovic.

    Rogers, who had won just one match at Roland Garros prior to this campaign, knocked out her second Czech seed of the week, having ousted 17th-seeded Karolina Pliskova in her opener, before ousting Kvitova.

    The 23-year-old American played the match of her life to complete a 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-0 victory over Kvitova and reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time in her career.

    Kvitova struck 36 unforced errors, double the number of Rogers, and called the defeat one of her worst ever at a major.

    “I felt like nothing really worked today. I think I didn’t start well the match and I was feeling very tired and my legs were very heavy,” said Kvitova, who had made the semifinals in Paris in 2012. “I felt just weird. I didn’t really sleep tonight and it’s just difficult day today.”

    No. 6 seed Simona Halep narrowly avoided Kvitova’s fate as she survived the brute force of 18-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka.

    Before the match, Osaka had told reporters that interviews were “her thing”. Following her 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Halep, the world now knows that tennis is very much her thing too.

    Osaka was contesting just her second grand slam main draw and was facing a top-10 player for the first time in her young career. But that didn’t stop the Japanese-Haitian teenager from stretching Halep, a runner-up at Roland Garros in 2014.

    “At the risk of sounding really arrogant, I kind of think that I can play with the top-10 players, like I feel like I can play with anybody. I just have to be consistent and not freak out all the time,” said Osaka.

    Halep’s next opponent is former runner-up Sam Stosur, who improved her poor record against last year’s finalist Lucie Safarova to 4-11 with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7(0), 7-5.

    Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska had a difficult time before beating Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2.

    After fighting through 10 sets in three days to get through his first two rounds, Murray got his campaign back on track with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3) over the giant-serving Croat Karlovic.

    “It was nice to win quickly today,” said Murray, who broke the 2.11m Karlovic with an inch-perfect lob in the first game of the match and never looked back. “It’s a matchup that I like. I have had good success against him in the past, and I have always enjoyed playing against serve and volleyers, normally.”

    The No2 seed will be pleased to know that he faces another big server in John Isner in the fourth round.

    Defending champion Stan Wawrinka set up a last 16 meeting with Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, thanks to a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

    Nick Kyrgios was bothered by a pain in his shoulder during his 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-2 defeat to No9 seed Richard Gasquet.

    “I felt it this morning when I was in my warm-up, and I didn’t think it was anything, but it was bothering me a little bit and I got physio on it. It actually loosened up toward the start of the second set, so it’s hopefully not too bad,” said Kyrgios.

    Kyrgios and Gasquet had split their previous two grand slam meetings – at Wimbledon – but the Aussie was unable to make it competitive yesterday.

    “I got absolutely destroyed. Wasn’t really fun,” said Kyrgios.

    Gasquet was happy to get through in straight sets, particularly against someone who once saved nine match points before defeating the Frenchman at Wimbledon two years ago.

    “Great for me to win against Nick in three sets. He’s one of the biggest players now, played very good last two months. Of course it’s a big victory, especially for me on center court at home with my crowd. It’s very nice for me,” said Gasquet.

    He next faces No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori who went the distance before beating Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4.

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