Svitolina hopes ended by Buzarnescu at French Open

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina failed to live up to her billing as one of the leading candidates to win the French Open as she went down in straight sets to Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu in round three.

Svitolina had arrived in Paris off the back of a dominant win over world No.1 Simona Halep in the Italian Open final, and seemingly ready to make her Grand Slam breakthrough.

The Ukrainian was well short of that form on Friday, however, as world No.33 Buzarnescu claimed a deserved 6-3 7-5 win.

The 30-year-old Romanian broke serve five times as a struggling Svitolina managed just 11 winners to 29 unforced errors.

Buzarnescu had never won a main-draw match at a Grand Slam tournament before this week, and is now one win from a place in the last eight.

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Svitolina has still yet to go further than the quarterfinals in 23 Grand Slam appearances.

“It’s really, really bad for me that I couldn’t go through the tough moments with a good attitude in this match,” Svitolina told rolandgarros.com.

“I wish I could play better. I wish I could move better and do the better selection of shots. But it was tough, and I couldn’t fight through the tough moments. I wish I could do something different, but it’s done now.”

Buzarnescu will next face American 13th seed Madison Keys, who beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-1 7-6(5).

“Days like this, they can happen. Next time, hopefully I can handle it better."

Svitolina at a loss after 3R exit: https://t.co/OBWrEVnrHq#RG18 pic.twitter.com/H9yTZBeNYz

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2018

Wozniacki extends Grand Slam run

Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki continued her bid for back-to-back major titles with another one-sided win in round three.

The Dane, who has had her struggles on clay, powered past France’s Pauline Parmentier 6-0 6-3 after winning the first 11 games.

Wozniacki will expect a tougher test in round four when she takes on Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, the 14th seed who beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-1 1-6 6-3.

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“It gets harder and harder with every match,” said Wozniacki, who has now won 10 matches in a row at Grand Slams.

“I’m happy to be here.”

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Czech 26th seed Barbora Strycova also progressed but rain saw the postponement for the day of matches including eighth seed Petra Kvitova and 10th seed Sloane Stephens.