MLADENOVIC'S DAY AT ROLAND GARROS

Article from www.wtatennis.com

Kristina Mladenovic caused the upset of the tournament so far knocking out Australian Open champion Li Na

PARIS, France - Coming in she was in a slump, dropping from last year's career-high of No.36 down to No.103, searching for the kind of form that once had her pegged as one of the WTA's brightest young stars. But Kristina Mladenovic's star shone brighter than ever at Roland Garros on Tuesday.

Mladenovic brought her home crowd to its feet on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 stunner over No.2 seed Li Na, squeaking through the first set, dipping in the second set then picking her game up in a big way in the third set, containing her huge power game with just five unforced errors.

The Frenchwoman's win over the World No.2 was the biggest win of her career - in fact it was by far the biggest win of her career, as her biggest win before this was against a No.8-ranked Petra Kvitova.

"It's definitely a huge thing for me, first round of a Grand Slam and at home at Roland Garros, and it's Li Na," Mladenovic said. "She's such a tough player, an amazing player, a Grand Slam champion.

"Also, look at this season. I went down in the rankings. I was in the Top 50 in the middle of last year, and I'm not longer in the Top 100. But it's only on paper. I've always believed in myself, and I still believed in myself today, and that's how I could put up such a good fight and play so well out there.

"I knew I had this in me. I'm very ambitious. I've never hidden that. And this is such a good win."

 

 

Li's section of the draw opened up even more later on in the day, as No.13 seed Caroline Wozniacki - Li's projected fourth round opponent - was bundled out by Yanina Wickmayer, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2.

Wickmayer has been working with Kim Clijsters at her academy - and Clijsters was at the match.

"The whole box was present, and it was exceptional, and it gave me strength in the difficult times," Wickmayer said. "In order to win this match, the fact that they were there was very important."

The highest seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw is now No.4 seed Simona Halep, who cruised past Alisa Kleybanova, 6-0, 6-2. Halep led 6-0, 5-0 before Kleybanova got on the board.

Other Top 16 seeds in action were No.6 seed Jelena Jankovic, who completed the match she began on Sunday against Sharon Fichman, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, No.10 seed Sara Errani, who outdid Madison Keys, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, No.11 seed Ana Ivanovic, who defeated Caroline Garcia, 6-1, 6-3, and No.15 seed Sloane Stephens, who won a dramatic second set tie-break to close Peng Shuai out, 6-4, 7-6(8).

No.21 seed Kirsten Flipkens, No.22 seed Ekaterina Makarova, No.23 seed Lucie Safarova, No.24 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No.26 seed Sorana Cirstea and No.27 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also won, but there was one more upset, with María-Teresa Torró-Flor - who recently won the first WTA title of her career in Marrakech - taking out No.30 seed Klara Koukalova in straights, 7-6(4), 6-2.