French Open: Karolina Pliskova loses against Petra Martic in the third round

Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic lost to world number 31 Petra Martic in the third round of Roland Garros.

Pliskova, a semifinalist of 2017, was in good shape and beat the British number one, Johanna Konta, to win the Italian Open in Rome this month.

Her 6-3 loss in 6-3 earned her fourth place among the top 10 female players.

And she was soon followed by the ninth Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, beaten 6-3 6-3 by the 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza.

The Croatian conqueror of Pliskova, Martic, who had reached the fourth round in 2012, will face twice the quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi from Estonia to the next round.

The semifinalist of the Australian Open, Pliskova, was broken twice in the first set and three times in the second after committing 28 non-forced mistakes and winning only 33% of the points of his second service.

The world number two, who left the French Open in the third round two years in a row, has not yet won the Grand Slam title, but reached the final of the US Open in 2016.

"I think the field is pretty slow, so you only have to play a few more moves," said the former world number one. "On the central court, I played twice and twice it was slow."

Muguruza turns the style

Muguruza, a 25-year-old Spanish woman, has a lot of pedigree after confirming her victory at Roland Garros with the title of Wimbledon a year later.

As a black horse at the start of the tournament, she becomes a potential winner after defeating WTA Tour 2018 finalist Svitolina with an impressive victory.

Pliskova's release also helped open the bottom half of the women's draw, although the seventh-seeded American Sloane Stephens should provide another severe test for Muguruza in the next round.

Against Svitolina, the powerful Muguruza showed signs of form that earned him the world's number one.

Both players struggled to serve in a strange opening game that began with seven successive interruptions. Muguruza ended up keeping a 5-3 lead before splitting again to win the opener.

Svitolina, 24, has not played since her first win against Venus Williams on Sunday, after seeing her Ukrainian childhood friend Kateryna Kozlova withdraw from her second-round match Wednesday due to the fact that she has not won. ;a sickness.

This may partly explain the lack of pace in his first set of service games: only 36% of the first services were served and only seven points of service.

Svitolina managed to stabilize in the second and broke to take a 3-2 lead, but Muguruza responded by winning the next four games to qualify for the last 16 for the sixth consecutive year in Paris.

Sevastova wins a thriller of 43 matches

Latvian 12th seed Anastasija Sevastova won a thrilling match of 43 games in the third round with Belgian, the 20th seed, Elise Mertens, on Suzanne Lenglen.

US Open semifinalist Sevastova won 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 11-9 in almost three hours and 30 minutes after recording five match points.

Mertens, who struggled to keep his foot, slipped to 6-6 in the deciding set to bring back two points but managed to hold on.

Sevastova broke up in the 19th match of the third set to draw a draw in the fourth round with the Czech world number 38. Marketa Vondrousova.

The match was three less than the women's French Open record with the most games, using a decisive game set by American Linda Harvey-Wild and Peruvian Laura Gildemeister in 1991.

Stephens, seventh seeded, has qualified for the fourth round with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Slovenia's world No. 71 Polona Hercog.

Stephens had recorded four match points in the second set before being beaten, but the champion of the US Open 2017 won the victory in just over two and a half hours and will face Muguruza, 19th in the Spanish standings on the next turn.