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French Open PHOTOS: Bouchard continues run, Federer hits 10-year low

June 02, 2014 09:25 IST
Eugenie Bouchard

Fast-rising talent Canadian Eugenie Bouchard thrashed German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 to claim a quarter-final spot, crunching 30 winners in 52 dazzling minutes to stretch her winning run on clay to nine matches, at the French Open on Sunday.

With so many top seeds gone from the women's draw, 20-year-old Bouchard is now looking like a serious title contender.

The 18th seeded Bouchard, who reached the Australian Open semi-final this year, completely outclassed Kerber and after her first WTA title last week in Nuremberg she is flying high.

"I feel like since the beginning of the year I have been improving my game, since Australia I'm at a different level from there," Bouchard said.

"I have confidence in myself. I can play like this and play even better."

She will face 14th seed Carla Suarez Navarro after the Spaniard used her one-handed backhand to great effect to end the run of up-and-coming Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic with a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Fast-rising talent, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard thrashed German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 to claim a quarter-final spot, crunching 30 winners in 52 dazzling minutes to stretch her winning run on clay to nine matches, at the French Open on Sunday.

With so many top seeds gone from the women's draw, 20-year-old Bouchard is now looking like a serious title contender.

The 18th seeded Bouchard, who reached the Australian Open semi-final this year, completely outclassed Kerber and after her first WTA title last week in Nuremberg she is flying high.

"I feel like since the beginning of the year I have been improving my game, since Australia I'm at a different level from there," Bouchard said.

"I have confidence in myself. I can play like this and play even better."

She will face 14th seed Carla Suarez Navarro after the Spaniard used her one-handed backhand to great effect to end the run of up-and-coming Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic with a 6-3 6-3 win.

'Mentally I have already switched to the grass, to be quite honest'

June 02, 2014 09:25 IST
Roger Federer

Roger Federer suffered his earliest defeat at the French Open for a decade when he lost to Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the fourth round but Novak Djokovic made light work of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the quarter-finals in a flash.

The Swiss fourth seed, who won the title in 2009, seemed to have the match in his grasp against the unpredictable Gulbis but faded badly to lose 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Tt was the first time since 2004 that 32-year-old father of four Federer failed to reach the last eight in Paris. He has now fallen before that stage in three of his last four Grand Slam tournaments.

"Mentally I have already switched to the grass, to be quite honest," said Federer. "For me, it's like, okay, claycourt season was fun, but we are moving on. Clay doesn't need me anymore, I got flushed out here."

Djokovic enters 20th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final

June 02, 2014 09:25 IST
Novak Djokovic

World No.2 Novak Djokovic destroyed local favourite Tsonga 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 to set up a meeting with eighth seed Milos Raonic of Canada, who advanced with an emphatic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain's Marcel Granollers.

The French crowd were hoping that 13th seed Tsonga would cheer them up, but Djokovic had other ideas.

It took him 89 minutes to tear Tsonga apart, opening a 5-0 lead and never looking back, ending the ordeal on the first match point.

Djokovic made it to his 20th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final.

Sharapova survives shaky start to beat Stosur

June 02, 2014 09:25 IST
Maria Sharapova

Last year's runner-up Maria Sharapova, the seventh seed, survived a shaky start to beat Australian Sam Stosur 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, winning the last nine games to set up a quarter-final against Spanish sensation Garbine Muguruza, who rounded off a bad day for the host nation with a 6-4, 6-2 win against France's Pauline Parmentier.

Sharapova was outfought by Stosur in the first set but the Russian began to build a remorseless momentum to grind down Stosur with her accuracy from the baseline. Sharapova broke for a 5-4 lead to take the second set and raced to a 3-0 lead in the third after winning 17 of 20 points. Stosur never recovered.

Murray wins five-set thriller against Kohlschreiber

June 02, 2014 09:25 IST
Andy Murray

Andy Murray lived to fight another day after a five-set thriller against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.

Seventh seed Murray reached the fourth round, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber having re-started the match on Sunday locked at 7-7 in the fifth after bad light stopped play the previous evening.

He will play Spain's Fernando Verdasco next after he also returned to finish off Frenchman Richard Gasquet with ease.