Paris: Two-time champion here Maria Sharapova was just three games away from a disastrous first round exit at the French Open here, Tuesday. However, the Russian showed tremendous fighting skills to come back from 0-3 down in the third set and beat Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in a 116-minute encounter and live to see another day.
Sharapova who had been denied a wild card last year, reeled off six games in a row in the decider with some powerful baseline hitting. Her ability to find the lines on the decisive points proved vital.
“It was tough no doubt,” Sharapova said in a courtside interview. “But when you pull through matches like these, the confidence level increases.”
In another match between two former champions third seed and 2016 winner Garbine Muguruza defeated 2009 title holder Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7/0), 6-2.
Muguruza took took two hours and five minutes to defeat Kuznetsova for the sixth time out of seven career encounters.
Muguruza struggled early in the match, with the score at 5-5 when the game was paused after a little over an hour due to the weather.
When play resumed, Muguruza rallied and went on to sweep the Russian World No. 43 in the tiebreak 7-0.
Despite Kuznetsova’s strong showing in the second set, Muguruza turned up the heat and sealed her place in the next round, where the former world No. 2 is to square off against Fiona Ferro of France, who beat Germany’s Carina Witthoft 6-4, 6-2.
Muguruza reeled off four games in a row in the second set as suddenly Kuznetsova’s form dipped and the number of unforced errors crept up.
Also advancing were veterans Samantha Stosur of Australia and Irina Begu of Romania with fluent wins. Australian Stosur beat Yelena Wickmayer of Belgium four and two while Begu earned a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 9-7 victory over Anna Schimedlova of Slovakia.