Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez eliminated from French Open with 2nd round loss
Serena Williams advances to 3rd round
Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez was eliminated from the French Open after losing 6-1, 7-5 to American Madison Keys in a second-round match Wednesday.
Fernandez, the world No. 69 from Laval, Que., was the last Canadian remaining in singles competition.
Keys, seeded 23rd at Roland Garros, had 31 winners to Fernandez's six, and was able to survive 25 unforced errors in the close second set.
Keys will next face 15th-seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Denmark's Clara Tauson.
Fernandez was the only Canadian in singles competition to win a match at the clay-court Grand Slam. Sixth-seed Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., lost her first match 6-7 (1), 7-6 (2), 9-7 to Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek.
WATCH | Fernandez loses in French Open to Keys:
In men's competition, 20th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was downed by Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-4 in the first round.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., the top-ranked Canadian male at No. 14, and No, 18 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., withdrew before the tournament got underway.
In women's doubles first-round action, Toronto's Sharon Fichman and Mexican partner Giuliana Olmos defeated Russia's Anna Blinkova and Britain's Heather Watson 6-3, 6-2. The ninth seeds will next face the winner of a match between Romanian pair Mihaela Buzarnescu and Patricia Tig and Spain's Lara Arruabarrena and Caroline Dolehide of the United States.
Men's doubles team tests positive for COVID-19
French Open organizers say that both members of a men's doubles team have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been dropped from the tournament.
The players were placed in quarantine. The tournament did not identify them.
The first team on the alternate list for men's doubles will get to compete instead.
The French tennis federation said Wednesday night that these were the first two positives from the 2,446 coronavirus tests that have been administered on players and their entourages since the start of qualifying rounds on May 24.
Serena Williams defeats Mihaela Buzarnescu
Her superior serve back at its unreturnable best, Serena Williams was in full control of her French Open match — until, suddenly, that stroke wasn't as dominant and neither was she.
And then, pushed to a third set by an opponent offering up all sorts of spins and speeds and angles, Williams regained her form and forged to the finish.
Williams got back to the third round at Roland Garros, where she has won three of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles, by pulling away to beat 174th-ranked Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 Wednesday on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Her serving, especially at the outset, was much better than in her first-round win. In that one Monday, she only put 51% of first serves in play and got broken three times in 10 games.
"I've been practicing my serve a lot. I've been playing, in practice, unbelievable on my serve. The other night was, `Wooooow,' she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm glad it came better today. My coach told me it's good that I'm doing it well in practice, because eventually it will be good in the match."
It sure was, especially at the outset against Buzarnescu, who didn't manage to put any serves in play in the first game.
By the end of the first set, Williams had won 20 of 23 points she served.
In the second set, things changed.
Buzarnescu made the measure of those powerful offerings and managed to get herself right back in the thick of things, breaking twice in a row.
"She's one of the best servers in the world. It's not easy to read her serve. Being the first time playing against her, it took a while for me to adjust my position in the court on the return," said Buzarnescu, who called it "a dream" to be able to face Williams. "I'm just happy I was able to figure it out. I hope next time, I can do it earlier."
After a bit of a reset, Williams got going back in the right direction.
"I knew going into the third, I just had to zero in on those important points," she said. "If I could just take those, it would be an easier time for me."
Last year, Williams withdrew before the second round in Paris because of an injured left Achilles. No such issues so far this time, and the 39-year-old American covered the court well, although she did have some tape on her right thigh.
Another American, Tommy Paul, got off to a good start against No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up, in the night session Wednesday. But Medvedev, who was 0-4 for his career at the French Open until this week, came back to eliminate Paul 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
Medvedev will take on Opelka for a spot in Week 2.
Alexander Zverev advances to 3rd round
Down 4-1 in the third set, Alexander Zverev decided it was time to shorten his match at the French Open.
He was determined to avoid another lengthy fight following a five-set battle in the previous round, so he applied pressure on qualifier Roman Safiullin. The sixth-seeded German won the next game at love, broke back by pushing his rival into unforced errors and was nearly flawless in the tiebreaker.
The reward was a 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory to advance into the third round at Roland Garros.
Tsitsipas defeats Pedro Martinez
For the third straight year, Stefanos Tsitsipas will be playing in the third round at Roland Garros following another straight-set win Wednesday.
The fifth-seeded Greek player excelled at the net and saved 11 break points to defeat solid baseliner Pedro Martinez of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Tsitsipas achieved his best result in Paris last year when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. He arrived in the French capital this year on the back of an excellent clay-court campaign that included titles in Monte Carlo and Lyon.
With files from The Associated Press
