Sharapova Eases Past Stossur as Cornet Keeps French Hopes Alive

Maria Sharapova is through to the round of 16 of the French Open after straight sets win over Sam Stossur.

The second seed’s 12 winners to 21 unforced errors complimented a 6-3 6-4 win over the Australian who, aside impressing in medium rallies, could not keep her error counts down; raking in 19 and 15 in the first and second sets respectively.

Sharapova meets 13th-seed Lucie Safarova in the fourth round after the Czech knocked out Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-3 7-6(7-2).

The clash with Stossur was a repeat of last year’s last-16 tie but kept under control by Sharapova after going into a decider on that occasion. The 28-year-old has yet to lose to the 26th seed on clay and is now 15-2 on career head-to-head with the 2010 losing finalist.

Maria Sharapova Pumps Her Fist after Straight Sets Defeat of Samantha Stossur in the Third Round of the 2015 French Open. Image: RG via Getty.
Maria Sharapova Pumps Her Fist after Straight Sets Defeat of Samantha Stossur in the Third Round of the 2015 French Open. Image: RG via Getty.

Sharapova leads Safarova 4-1 in their head-to-head and has won their last four matches, though the last couple of ties were keenly contested.

Earlier on Friday, A rejuvenated Ana Ivanovic became the first to ensure her passage into the second week of the French Open after cruising past rising star Dona Vekic 6-0 6-3.

Croatia’s Vekic waited until the second game of the second set to claim her first point of the tie and then held for a 2-1 lead when she broke the Serb for a first time in roughly half-hour of play.

Ivanovic regained initiative, taking five of the next six games to close out victory and reached the fourth round of a Major since her journey to the quarter-finals of the 2014 Australian Open.

“After the first two matches I really started to get a little bit of feeling and groove, and I had an easy day yesterday,” Ivanovic said. “Today I really had a strict game plan. I had an idea what I wanted to do, and obviously the confidence from the first two matches helped me in today’s performance, as well.

“Those first two matches I really felt like I had kind of a slow start, and it was something I really wanted to change today. I was happy I did that. I was really happy that I was able to change that.”

The 2008 champion will face Ekaterina Makarova, who won an All-Russian face-off against Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-4 at the Philippe-Chatrier.

Alize Cornet came back from a set down to account for Simona Halep’s conqueror, Mirjana Lucic-Beroni, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the Philippe-Chatrier.


The French No. 1 will face No.19 seed, Elina Svitolina, who won an all-Women’s Rising Star match-up against Annika Beck out on Court 7, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in Court 7.

Svitolina is into the Last 16 of a Grand Slam for a first time and will be searching for her first win over Cornet after two losses,

In the other third round result, Garbine Muguruza ensured she retains her hotel lock keys into the second week of the Roland Garros for a second straight year after securing her first ever win over Germany’s Angelique Kerber 4-6 6-2 6-2. The Spaniard will face either countrywoman Carla Suarez-Navarro or Italian Flávio Pannetta in the fourth round.