Ivanovic Ousted as Kuznetsova Reaches Fourth Round in Paris

By Erik Gudris                          Photo Credit: Patrick Kovarik/Getty Images

(June 1st, 2012) Italy's Sara Errani, winner of three clay court titles this year, proved again she is a force to deal with on the dirt as she earned a surprise three-set win over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.

Ivanovic, who had shown some of the stellar form that took her to the Paris title in 2008, blazed through the first set 6-1. But it was Errani's combination of defense and crafty offense that saw her  come to net many times that began to unnerve Ivanovic. At 4-all in the second set, Ivanovic began to leak unforced errors and she went on to hit 40 overall in the match, including three wayward shots in the final game to give Errani a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Waiting for Errani will be No. 26 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova who put in a dominant performance against No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Kuznetsova overwhelmed Radwanska in the first set hitting the kind of forceful winners that took her to the French Open title in 2009. After dropping the first set, Radwanska did manage to climb back to 2-3 in the second set, but two costly backhand errors from the Pole allowed the Russian to break her serve and from there Kuznetsova never looked back as she earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

No. 6 seed Sam Stosur made sure to avoid the upset bug going around as she put in her own convincing performance against No. 27 seed Nadia Petrova who owned a 5-2 record against the Aussie. Stosur saved 4 of 5 break points against her and used her big forehand to push the Russian around. But it was a down the line backhand winner that sealed a 6-3, 6-3 win for Stosur.

Also avoiding an upset was No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber who dropped the first set against veteran Italian Flavia Pennetta but rallied to force a third set in the late Paris evening. Untimely errors from a tiring Pennetta eventually allowed Kerber to serve out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka fought off the fading Paris dusk and her opponent Aleksandra Wozniak to notch a 6-4, 6-4 win. No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova finished her second round match against Ayumi Morita in quick style as Sharapova won 6-1, 6-1.

Earlier in the morning, American Sloane Stephens reached the fourth round of a Major for the first time in her career as she defeated France's Mathilde Johansson 6-3, 6-2. Stephens plays Stosur in the next round.

Stephens will play the winner of the Nadia Petrova versus Sam Stosur match to be played later today.