Players blast French Open over rain play, Djokovic faces epic stretch

AFP: Top 10 stars Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep blasted French Open organisers Tuesday for forcing them to compete in pouring rain as Novak Djokovic was left facing a four-day epic playing stretch.

Radwanska, the second seed, and sixth seed Halep both lost their last-16 clashes after opening healthy leads on Sunday night.

But after Monday was washed out, they were forced back out Tuesday despite the rain never really relenting and slumped to bad-tempered defeats.

“I’m just so surprised and angry that we have to play in the rain. I mean, it’s not a $10,000 tournament. It’s a Grand Slam,” raged Polish star Radwanska after her 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Bulgaria’s world number 102 Tsvetana Pironkova.

Radwanska had been 6-2, 3-0 up on Sunday night.

“How can you allow players to play in the rain?,” said the former Wimbledon runner-up after her loss on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

“I don’t think they really care what we think. I think they care about other things.”

Halep, beaten in the 2014 final by Maria Sharapova, suffered a 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 defeat to former US Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia. The Romanian had been 5-3 up when their contest was suspended on Sunday.

“I have no words. It was impossible to play, in my opinion. And to play tennis matches during the rain I think it’s a bit too much,” said the Romanian after her loss on Court One.

“The the court was not good. The balls were wet, completely wet during the match. So I think it’s too difficult to play tennis in these conditions. I felt some pain, yeah, in my back, in my Achilles.

“I didn’t feel sure on court, safe on court.”

They were the only two matches completed in the two hours play possible by early Tuesday evening after the tournament had suffered its first complete washout in 16 years on Monday. Top seed and world number one Djokovic was 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 ahead of Spain’s 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut on Court Philippe Chatrier in his last-16 clash.

Their match had been played in two spells between the rain with the first halted after 37 minutes with the top seed having dropped the first set.

That left Djokovic, seeking a first Roland Garros title to complete the career Grand Slam, facing the prospect of playing on four consecutive days to complete the fourth round, quarter-final and semi-final.

The Serb had already dropped serve five times against a man he has defeated four times in four outings. The rain forced the scheduled quarter-finals between Andy Murray, the second seed, and Richard Gasquet and defending champion Stan Wawrinka’s clash against Albert Ramos-Vinolas back to Wednesday.

Radwanska suffers Paris meltdown in defeat by Pironkova

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Agnieszka Radwanska

​Reuters: Fans were left wet and miserable at a soggy Roland Garros on Tuesday -- but not as drenched or depressed as Agnieszka Radwanska after the world number two’s French Open hopes fizzled out following a monumental meltdown against Tsvetana Pironkova.

Leading her Bulgarian rival 6-2 3-0 when rain halted play on Sunday, Radwanska appeared to have one foot in the quarter-finals.

However, when the fourth-round tussle resumed more than 40 hours later following Monday’s washout, the Polish second seed seemed all at sea as the players were forced to play through misty rain.

She lost 10 games in a row as she fell to a 2-6 6-3 6-3 defeat by an opponent ranked 100 places below her.