Kerber, Kohlschreiber get boot
June 1, 2014
Always the underdog against the reining Wimbledon champion, Philipp Kohlschreiber ran Andy Murray about as close as was possible on the Briton's least-favored clay courts in France. The 28th seed from Germany took Murray to a decisive fifth set, ending 12-10 in Murray's favor. The marathon match featured 18 breaks of serve between the two players.
Despite exceeding pre-match expectations, Kohlschreiber struggled to see the positive side, moments after the defeat.
"At the moment I really am empty and a little disappointed. The emotions were completely out of the ordinary. But at the end of it all, I'm sitting here with a third-round defeat - and that hurts more than thinking about what a great game it was," Kohlschreiber said.
Kerber falls to Bouchard
Germany's top-seeded women's hopeful, Angelique Kerber, went out with more of a whimper than a bang, losing 1-6, 2-6 to 18th seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.
"That was a black day for me today. Nothing was working. I don't know why," the baffled eighth seed Kerber confided after the exit.
Canada had further joy in the men's section, with Milos Raonic becoming just the fourth Canadian to reach the last eight of a major tournament, beating Spaniard Marcel Granoller 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Raonic, 23, was seeded eighth for the tournament. He faces second seed Novak Djokovic in the quarters. Djokovic needed less than 90 minutes to cruise past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets on Sunday.
Old master Roger Federer, playing at his least successful Grand Slam tournament, suffered his first third-round defeat at Roland Garros in a decade. Federer went through a five-set marathon like Murray and Kohlscreiber, losing 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. A winner of 17 Grand Slams in total, the 32-year-old Federer has just the one French Open title, from 2009.
Rafael Nadal, the clay court killer who dominated Roland Garros at Federer's expense in recent years, is yet to play his fourth round game. The top seed faces Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.
msh/pfd (AFP, AP, Reuters)