Clijsters upset, Sharapova survives in French

PARIS - after match in the second set of wasting two points and feeling his confidence fainting, Kim Clijsters left the match away Thursday at the France Open.

Finalist Garros, seeded second in the tournament this year, lost the 114th largest Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands times 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to two.

"I started to doubt a little", said Clijsters, playing his second game as a right ankle injury knocked her out of combat. "When you start doubting yourself on any surface, but for me certainly on clay, it is the wrong attitude to have."

Maria Sharapova also struggled, but the Russia seeded seventh won 11 games after that ended 4-1 in the second set and beat the 17 years Caroline Garcia de France 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Clijsters, who had won past 15 Grand Slam matches after taking titles at the US Open last year courses and Open of Australia this year, did not convert either point game in the second set.

Playing with his right ankle registered, the Belgian committed errors not forced 65 and lost 11 of 12 games final. RUS finished with 22 errors not enforced and had eight winners in the entire game.

"My ankle feels fine, which has absolutely nothing to do with him", said Clijsters. "If I felt like I was not ready as much as I wanted to be, I wouldn't come here.". If I wasn't printing that I was able to play the difficult matches, then I would not have taken this decision to come here. ?

Clijsters had his first chance to close the match against the Dutch when leading 5-2 in the second set, but saved Rus point of the match and held the make 5-3 before breaking Clijsters back on serve.

"When I was 5-2 down in the second set, I thought, ' just go and play more aggressive," Rus a. "and, Yes, that really helped."

"At 6-5 I had a very good serve game, and then I won the game.". Then I thought, "Yeah, I can win this match," "she."

Clijsters had another match point in the 10th game, but Rus recorded again and finally pushed the score to 5-5.

With changing dynamics, Clijsters double-defective for the seventh time, one of its 28 errors not enforced on the whole, to permit the Rus to break and make the second set.

"It obviously began to build more confidence, began playing much better and really nice to me on my back foot all the time.". I could not really play my tennis aggressive anymore in this third series, "said Clijsters.

Clijsters injured his right ankle in dancing at the marriage of his cousin in April, its marginalization to Garros. She played at Roland Garros in 2006, when she reached the semi-finals.

But, since his return to the tour in 2009 following the birth of her daughter, Clijsters has won three of her four Grand Slam titles.

RUS, junior champion Open of Australia in 2008, reached the third round of a tournament Grand Slam for the first time.

Garcia, who was playing in only his second tournament, led 4-1 in the second set. But Sharapova then took control and won every game after that.

"I think that never the game is over until it is really," said Sharapova. "I think that any situation you are put in, any good or bad you feel, you do not have to complete the game.".

"More than anything I just tried to be more consistent," she said.

Sharapova has won the Italian open on May 15, the largest career clay-court title. She won the French Open, the only Grand Slam title not on his curriculum vitae.

"It could easily have the other way today, but I think that I knew I had to make an adjustment," Sharapova said. "More than anything, I felt like I really intensified." (And which was necessary if I wanted to win this game.) ?

Garcia is a rising star on the stage of French tennis. She reached the second round at the Australia Open in January in his debut at the level of the tower.

Garros is only his second tournament, and she is again through the first round.

Against Sharapova, she played a large part of the game with its confidence high, find four corners of the Court and placing his shots just out of reach of his opponent.

"I was giving no points for it, and I was very specific," Garcia said. "And I was hitting high areas that she does not like because she is tall, so it is difficult for her.".

Stellar play of Garcia early in the game has already drawn praise from one of its players, the Open of Australia Andy Murray finalist.

"Girl sharapova plays will be No.1 in world one day Carolina garcia, what player u heard here 1," the Murray seeded fourth tweeted.

Sharapova did not really disagree.

"It's a long road and a long journey," said the 24 year old Russian. "There will be many WINS and losses." It is difficult for me to say, but it is on its way, no doubt. ?

In other results, Vania King of the United States back on board Elena Baltacha of Britain 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The King ranked 115th is in the third round of a tournament Grand Slam for the second time only in 20 tests.

She Bethanie Mattek-sands, who won Wednesday, are the first women other than Venus and Serena Williams to make it this far at Roland Garros since 2006.

No. 4 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, no. 6 Li Na, no. 9 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, no. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, no. 15 Andrea Petkovic, Germany, no. 21 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, no. 25 Maria Kirilenko, Russia and no. 30 Roberta Vinci Italy also advanced to the third roundwhereas no. 27 Alexandra Dulgheru of the Romania lost.

Li Beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa, of the Spain, 6 - 4, 7-5 and Kvitova defeated twice Grand Slam semifinalist Zheng Jie of China 6 - 4, 6-1.

Djokovic extends streak, advances to French

PARIS - Novak Djokovic's perfect season is still intact and his clay-court form still looks devastating after he reached the third round of the French Open when Victor Hanescu retired Wednesday because of injury.

A comparison of the season-opening winning streaks of John McEnroe in 1984 and Novak Djokovic in 2011.

The second-seeded Serb, who joined 2009 champion Roger Federer in the third round at Roland Garros, improved to 39-0 in 2011 after Hanescu retired while trailing 6 - 4, 6 - 1, 2-3. Djokovic has won 41 straight matches dating to last year's Davis Cup final.

"I keep on thinking only about the winning." "I'm taking one match at a time," Djokovic said. "Really, I'm not thinking about when this - this amazing streak--streak will end." "So I guess that's the right mental approach."

Asked what he needs to do to continue his current run, Djokovic replied: "Stay focused, dedicated, motivated." I am still only 24. I have many more years to come. It's been the best five, six months of my career. "and I m very happy with the way I m playing."

As well he should be.

Only three men in the Open era won more matches in a row, topped by Guillermo Vilas' 46 in 1977. And only one started a season better: John McEnroe began 42-0 in 1984.

If he makes the final, Djokovic will be assured of the No.. 1 ranking in men's tennis for the first time.

No.. David Ferrer of Spain, no. 7. 9 Gael Monfils of France and former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro also made it through.

Djokovic, who won three clay-court tournaments leading up to Roland Garros and beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal in two of them, won seven straight games at one point and didn't face any trouble from his Romanian opponent.

Hanescu called for a trainer to look at his left leg after losing the second set. The trainer came back out after Hanescu held to make it 3-2 in the third.

Djokovic then won the next two points before Hanescu called it quits.

In the next round, Djokovic will face del Potro, who defeated Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia-3, 6-2, 6 6-4.

Dating from December, when he won two Davis Cup matches, Novak Djokovic has won 41 consecutive ATP matches, tying the fourth-longest win streak in the Open era.

"Well, it's a big challenge for both of us," Djokovic said. "He's a fantastic player who always deserved to be in the top five in the world, and I'm sure he's going to come back very quickly there, because he has amazing groundstrokes and a big serve."

Del Potro missed most of last season after having surgery on his right wrist and more recently has been bothered by a bad hip.

"knowing that djokovic is the best player this season, that he's trying to beat a record, is one thing," said the 6-foot-6, big-hitting del Potro, who lost all three past meetings with Djokovic, "but I need to stop thinking about it to avoid any additional pressure."

The two are buddies and were prompted at their news conferences to discuss the idea of making things more interesting by putting a friendly wager on the line.

Del Potro's response, delivered with a wink: "of course not." "He's much richer than I am."

Djokovic laughed when told about that.

"I will accept any bet." Why not? "we can have fun," Djokovic said. "If the bet is a dinner, I will do my best to earn the dinner."

Djokovic, who won the Australian Open in 2008 and this January, and del Potro are the only men other than Federer (12) and Nadal (nine) to collect any of the most recent 24 Grand Slam titles.

Federer defeated French wild card Maxime Teixeira 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 to reach the third round. Teixeira is 1-1 at the French Open after winning his first tour-level match on Sunday.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion, despite being broken early in the match, made it look easy by winning 13 straight games from the first set to the third.

"He fought hard, and afterwards he was trying to get the best score," Federer said of his 22-year-old opponent. "the score was balanced for 1? sets, but even then he fought hard."

Federer didn't face a single break point in his opening match, and managed only one Teixeira on Wednesday - and he converted it. After the Frenchman held to go to 3-3, Federer dominated and didn't lose another game until Teixeira made it 4-1 in the third set.

"During 1? sets you're really well focused, and after this you can relax a little at the end of the match." "and it was a bit simpler as well at the end," Federer said. "Now I'm very happy with these types of matches." "I can practice more and so on, but now I'm really in the tournament, which is a good thing."

Teixeira had beaten another French wild card, Vincent Millot, in the first round.

"I gave it all I did what I could," Teixeira said. "To play against Roger is an incredible experience." "I'll never forget it and it will be great memories."

Federer knows what it's like to be the inexperienced examiner kid across the net from one of the game's greats. Back on Oct. 6, 1998, Federer played his sixth career match against Andre Agassi at Basel, Switzerland, and lost 6 - 3, 6-2.

"You know, on the one hand, that you can't win," said Federer, who went on a 41-match unbeaten run from August 2006 to March 2007. "And if you win, it's like a miracle."

Federer will face 29th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Pere Riba of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Tipsarevic took Federer to five sets in the third round of the 2008 Australian Open, eventually losing 10-8.

"I think he's a dangerous player on the big short against the big players." "He played really well against these players, so let's be careful," Federer said. "Let's be ready in advance, because he can vary his game on hard courts, on clay as well." "He can do all sorts of things."

Federer's record of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals ended with a loss in the French Open quarterfinals a year ago. If he makes it to the semifinals this time, he could meet Djokovic.

"He has had a lot of streaks and a lot of records that he's broken." I mean, look, he has won the most Grand Slams. He's the most successful tennis player ever. "there is not much to say about that," said Djokovic, who beat Federer in the semifinals at the last two major tournaments. "I mean, it's just amazing what he has done throughout his career."

Ferrer advanced by stopping Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard has twice reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, in 2005 and ' 08.

No.. Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, no. 12. Richard Gasquet of France, no. 13. Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, no. 14. 17 Jo - Wilfried Tsonga of France, no.. Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, no. 23. 30 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and no.. 31 Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine also advanced.

Nadal plays the first game ever five sets to French

PARIS - Rafael Nadal excels when it was needed most, winning the last two sets against John Isner Tuesday to advance to the second round at the France Open with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2), 6 - 2, 6-4 victory.

The five-time champion, who improved to 39-1 at Roland Garros, has played a match in five sets at Roland Garros for the first time in seven visits.

Nadal said "tough, tough moments for me". "I played too nervous, in my opinion".

Nadal last lost a set Garros 2009, when it was eliminated by Robin Soderling in the fourth round. He had dropped never previously a set to the first or the second round.

The top-seeded Nadal strives to equal Bjorn Borg of six French titles record open.

Nadal entered the tournament after losing to Novak Djokovic on clay in the final in Rome and Madrid. But the Spanish head is still seen by many as the odds-on favorite at Roland Garros.

Which do not appear to account for Isner, the man known for his role in the longest game of tennis in history of year in the beginning anyway - last at Wimbledon.

Despite the loss of the first series, the American held strong tall and Nadal forced a pair of tie-breaker, where his big service helped put Nadal on the defensive.

"That was when I started so to believe a little bit more," Isner says, "" and began to play with more confidence and strut over there.""

Nadal even was a little worried. A was Toni Nadal, Rafael coach and his uncle, who will later tell that from his perch in the stands he felt "very, very nervous, because losing in the first round is not too good for us."

But his nephew stops itself and zero errors not forced in the fourth game, while Isner in 12.

"I played well in the tiebreak, and I had no chance of the break," Nadal said. "When you play against this kind of players, the pressure is all the time." You have to play very safe time. ?

Nadal broke Isner to a 2-1 advantage in the fourth game and who calls "the turning point."

Coach of the Isner, Craig Boynton, agreed.

"Rafa get up a break early in the fourth really helped his psyche,"Boynton says. ".

His first match tour against John Isner, five-time champion Rafael Nadal played his first match of five sets never Garros and also was the number of tie-breaker, lost in his career at Roland Garros.

Earlier, semé of fourth Brit Andy Murray reached the second round with a 6 - 4, 6 - 1, 6-3, victory of French qualifier Eric Prodon, but the score reflects history.

With a player having won that a single match on the ATP of his career, Murray circuit never appeared comfortable on Court Suzanne Lenglen and lost his cool several times during the match, visibly annoyed by blows of his opponent falling.

"It was a difficult match." No there was no rhythm really for the match, "said Murray. "He didn't have any long rallies, so he touched many drop shots, ranging from the shots." It could change the tempo or change the pace of the ball much. ?

Murray, whose best result at the clay-court Grand Slam is reaching the quarter-finals two years ago, acknowledged that he was unhappy with the way he moved to the Court.

"I hardly earned a point when he had to drop fire today," said Murray. "I was getting to most of them, but not really do much with them.". So I'll do some work on that tomorrow on the practice court. ?

Murray will play Simone Bolelli of Italy, another qualifier and still has time to adapt after receiving an easy draw. If things go as planned for him, it will take its first real test in quarter-final with a potential conflict against seeded to eighth Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who won Tuesday.

Play in a major for the second time, the 124th-ranked Prodon broke Murray in the ninth game with a backhand drop shot but immediately loses its service and all.

Murray then lost only 11 points in the second set and broke Prodon three times in the third.

"I am told in it is very unpredictable," said Murray. "This is how it was." This is why it was a difficult match and just a very frustrating issue of play, because even if I was at the front, all the points were really fragmented. ?

Murray crossed a trail of losing four-match after the Open of Australia, but was a well beaten season, reaching the semi-finals at Monte Carlo and Rome.

It is without coach after take paths separated with Alex Corretja in March. France Open, it is to obtain assistance from Darren Cahill - who used to lead Andre Agassi - and Sven Groeneveld.

"He has had much experience," said Murray. "And he knows that it is normal not to feel your best in the first game, it is difficult conditions and the most important thing is to get by."

The fifth-seeded Soderling advanced with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, victory of Ryan Harrison to the United States. Harrison won a place in the main table after Benjamin Becker has retired.

Sam Querrey of Philipp Kohlschreiber, the Germany United States defeated 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the French Open second round for the first time.

Seed 24 Querrey entered this year with a tournament 0-4 record for career at Roland Garros.

Showing best of Querrey in a Grand Slam tournament were the fourth round at Wimbledon and US Open appearances.

No. 16 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, no. 18 Gilles Simon of France, no. 20 Florian Mayer of the Germany, no. 21 Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine and no. 32 Kevin Anderson of South Africa also advanced, but no. 11 Nicolas Almagro in Spain lost.

Clijsters to compete with the ankle in French

Brussels - Kim Clijsters says she is well enough to compete at the France Open.

The Belgian said Monday that she will play with his right ankle recorded but added that the injuries to his shoulder and wrist is no longer hinder his before the tournament Grand Slam that she has yet to win.

Clijsters is a finalist in the France twice, and slow clay is generally regarded as its lower surface. Until last week, it had been considered doubtful. She had been excluded since early last month and resumed on Court two weeks of training. The tournament begins Sunday.

"Play is wonderful." "I am hitting the ball very well and more and more I'm going for it", she said. "I am not completely without pain, but the strong band around my ankle gives me a sufficient guarantee."

In a schedule busy early spring it overexerted his shoulder and right wrist and withdrew from the tour last month. Its problems have been exacerbated when she also wounded in the ankle by wearing high heels to the marriage of his cousin.

With a sweep of late withdrawals, including the Williams sisters, the French are wide open. And Clijsters, U.S. and Open of Australia champion, is confident that it can do.

"The advantage is that I still have the spirit of the Grand slam tournaments last." If I play well, I can win. "Attitude is very important, even if the situation is physically very different", she said.

The grass of Wimbledon is more suited to his game and it has already signed to participate in a warm-up tournament in the Netherlands, which begins June 12.

Clijsters should be rusty coming. She has missed the semi-finals of the Fed Cup against the Czech Republic, who lost to the Belgium. Then, she was forced to ignore the Italian Open because of his ankle.

The complex of the ankle injury - ligaments were strained on top of a torn ankle joint capsule and tendon sheath - forced to keep his right ankle immobilized for several days.

Two weeks ago, she has resumed full training.

"It has been a time since I played a match, let alone on red clay," she said. "We will see where I must."