Kim Clijsters crashed out of Roland Garros on Thursday, her worst Grand Slam result in nine years, as Maria Sharapova escaped humiliation at the hands of a fearless 17-year-old French girl. Second seed Clijsters let slip a set and a 5-2 lead, and squandered two match points, to slump to a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 second round defeat to Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus, the world number 114.
Seventh seed Sharapova came back from a set and 1-4 down to win 11 games in succession to defeat world number 188 Caroline Garcia, playing in only her second tour level tournament, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Despite not having played a claycourt match in the run-up to Roland Garros, due to a shoulder problem and then a freak ankle injury suffered while dancing at a cousin's wedding, Clijsters said she had been ready to compete.
"I'm happy that I gave myself an opportunity. If I had said: 'It's better not to come', that would be the attitude of a real loser," said the US and Australian Open champion, playing in Paris for the first time since 2006. "I had practised well. Physically everything was fine. I was definitely ready." On a chilly and windswept Philippe Chatrier court, the 27-year-old, the runner-up in 2001 and 2003, committed a total of 65 unforced errors and 10 double faults.
The slender 1.80m Rus, named in honour of Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, the triple Roland Garros champion, said: "It was my biggest win. Kim is my hero. I played fantastic tennis." Rus is the first Dutchwoman to make the third round of a Grand Slam since Michaella Kracijek at Wimbledon in 2007 and next faces Russia's Maria Kirilenko for a place in the last 16.
Sharapova, the former world number one and triple Grand Slam title winner, looked set to follow Clijsters out of the tournament. But the Russian superstar summoned her famed fighting spirit to set-up a clash against Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan for a place in the last 16 after a bruising experience. "She played unbelievable and the conditions were really tough. So I tried to be steady and to adjust the best I could," said Sharapova, who had been scheduled to face Clijsters in the last eight.
It had been a clincial performance by Garcia, whose 57,000-dollar career earnings pale compared to Sharapova's on-court riches of almost 15 million as she dominated the first half of the tie. Garcia, the daughter of a Lyon estate agent, didn't lack confidence having gone into the match against the sport's biggest drawcard confidently backing herself to be number one in the world in the not too distant future. After wrapping up the first set, she was soon 4-1 ahead in the second and sensing a famous triumph. But Sharapova, who has never reached a Paris final, was not going quietly and pulled level at 4-4.
Then a crucial over-rule in her favour at 30-30 in the next game swung the tie firmly in her favour and she did not look back as she romped to victory against a visibly tiring Garcia. Also making the last 32 were Chinese sixth seed Li Na who saw off Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-4, 7-5. Australian runner-up Li will face Sorana Cirstea for a place in the last 16 after the Romanian, a quarter-finalist in 2009, defeated 27th-seeded compatriot Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 7-5.
Tournament darkhorse Petra Kvitova, the ninth-seeded Czech, who won the Madrid Masters title earlier this month, beat Zheng Jie 6-4, 6-1. Also going through to the third round were Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated India's Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-4, and Belgian 25th seed Yanina Wickmayer after a 6-4, 7-5 win over Japan's Ayumi Morita. Results from the fifth day of the 2011 French Open at Roland Garros on Thursday (x denotes seeded player):
Women (2nd round) Li Na (CHN x6) bt Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 6-4, 7-5; Sorana Cirstea (ROM) bt Alexandra Dulgheru (ROM x27) 6-2, 7-5; Vania King (USA) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Petra Kvitova (CZE x9) bt Zheng Jie (CHN) 6-4, 6-1; Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5); Roberta Vinci (ITA x30) bt Iryna Bremond (FRA) 6-3, 6-4; Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-1, 6-4; Yanina Wickmayer (BEL x21) bt Ayumi Morita (JPN) 6-4, 7-5; Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x12) bt Sania Mirza (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Andrea Petkovic (GER x15) bt Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 7-6 (7/2), 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x25) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 6-1, 6-4; Arantxa Rus (NED) bt Kim Clijsters (BEL x2) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.