Fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia crashed out of the French Open on Saturday losing a third round tie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia crashed out of the French Open on Saturday losing a third round tie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
It was the biggest upset to date in the tournament as Djokovic had been touted as being possibly the main threat to top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal after taking him to the limit in Madrid two weeks ago.
But against the 25-year-old 29th seed, who was playing for the first time in the third round at Roland Garros after a five-set win over 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, he met his match.
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Fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after going down 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in a third round French Open encounter on Saturday. pic/AFP |
Djokovic said that he had no excuses for the loss.
"I was disappointed with the way I was performing. I couldn't find the rhythm throughout the whole match," he said. "I was trying to find the comfort zone but my legs were really stuck."
Former World No 1 Roger Federer came back from a set down to win his Round Three encounter against Paul Henry Mathieu. Federer Eventually won 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Dementieva outRussian fourth seed Elena Dementieva, the 2004 Roland Garros runner-up, was sent crashing out in the third round on Saturday by Australia's Samantha Stosur. The 30th seed won 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career, and the first time on the testing clay courts of the French capital.
Meanwhile, American second seed Serena Williams reached the French Open last 16 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Williams, the 2002 champion, will face Canada's Alexsandra Wozniak for a place in the quarter-finals.
Paes wins but mixed luck for Bhupathi Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to the quarters and the pre-quarters in the men's doubles of the French Open with partners Lukas Dlouhy and Mark Knowles respectively on Saturday.
However, Bhupathi, who paired with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles, suffered a straight set loss to French-Israeli duo of Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram in the first round of the French Open. The Indian duo lost 1-6, 5-7 to Dechy and Ram.
The Paes-Dlouhy combine edged past the local pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3) 6-3. It took the third seeded Indo-Czech pair more than an hour and a half to bury the challenge of their rivals, who fought valiantly.
Bhupathi and Knowles, however, survived a stern test from Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands Antilles. The fourth seeded pair toiled for nearly three hours before edging out their opponents 7-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) in the gruelling second round match.
