Nadal, Sharapova, Ferrer Advance Easily, Wozniacki, Schiavone Upset at French Open

Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, David Ferrer easily advanced at the French Open on Saturday. Seeded casualties on the day included (9)Caroline Wozniacki (14) Francesca Schiavone, (22) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and (25) Julia Goerges.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal sailed past Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

“I played a solid match, but say it’s my best or not, was similar to the second against Istomin.  And today I think  I mean, Istomin I played a very high level the third set.  Today the third set I stopped a little bit, you know.  I didn’t play as good as I did in the previous two.

“I probably stopped a little bit my legs, and I had the break, and after the break I was solid with my serve.

“But in general is important victory for me.  Straight sets, good feelings.  That’s most important thing, and I happy.”

Sharapova continued her domination of the field with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Shuai Peng. “Yeah, I came into today,” Sharapova said, “knowing that I’m facing a pretty tough opponent who I have had trouble against in the past, who has beaten me before.  And played three sets with her a couple of times.”

“So she can really play, and, you know, she hits the ball really well.  You know, but I tried to get her on the run today and really move her, you know, stay aggressive.  I served well and returned well, and I thought that was really important, especially against her.”

Andy Murray showed no signs of the back injury that has bothered him for the last few weeks when he took out Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

“I felt like I moved pretty well today,” Murray said.  “I mean, when you’re playing in slams, I just think each day you need to take as it comes.  And I felt, you know, much better than I did the other day.  I felt better than I did yesterday.”

David Ferrer destroyed Mikhail Youznhy so completely 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 that the Russian wrote the word “sorri” in the clay with his foot.

“There was a lot of people. That’s why I write `sorry.’ Because I can’t show them a nice game,” said an apologetic Youzhny. “The way we played in the beginning, it was not really interesting for people.”

“People in the stands may not have noticed, but I think I had to do this.”

Defending Roland Garros Champion Li Na needed three sets to oust American Christine McHale 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

“Yeah, I think I started off playing pretty well,” Mchale said..  “Yeah, I think her experience in the end helped and she started playing better as the match went on.

“So, yeah, I’ll just have to use this match and learn from it.  Playing players like her in these rounds at tournaments is still new for me.

“So, yeah, I’m just going to take the positives from it and keep going.”

“She’s a very dangerous player,” said Li Na. “I mean, I was happy I can win match today, because I have more experience.”

2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone fell to American Varvara Lepchenko 3-6, 6-3, 8-6. The win puts Lepchenko into the fourth round. She along with Sloane Steephens means that two unseeded US women are in the fourth round of a major for the first time since Wimbledon in 2002.

“I was fighting all the way to the end, I was trying to stay with Francesca the whole time,” Lepchenko told media.

“She played amazing and it is her court and I knew that she was not going to give it away for free.”

Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki could not complete a comeback against Kaia Kanepi 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3. Kanepi served for the match five times over the last two sets before closing the contest.