Welcome to Roland Garros Rewind, where wtatennis.com will take a look back at some of the most memorable matches from the past two decades at the French Open. From notorious upsets to great escapes, rewind the clock and check out our list of the Top 8 third-round matches, laid out in chronological order.
Roland Garros Round Reviews:
Serena, Sharapova and more first round classics
Davenport, Schiavone and more second round stunners
2005: [29] Ana Ivanovic def. [3] Amélie Mauresmo 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
A silver medalist at the previous year’s Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Amélie Mauresmo long sought gold at her country’s major tournament. The former World No.1 returned to Paris alongside 1983 French Open champion Yannick Noah – a new member of her coaching team – and having won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for a second straight year. She marched through her first two matches with an air that suggested she had finally figured out that which kept her from translating clay court prowess to home court success.
None of that planning, it seems, accounted for an on-fire teenager named Ana Ivanovic, who, despite taking three hardcourt losses to Mauresmo in the months prior, was primed for an upset of epic proportion. The seventeen-year-old Serb showed off the forehand that would one day take her to the top of women’s tennis as she swept the first set, and shook off a second set hiccup and final set surge from the crowd favorite to clinch the classic en route to a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.
2008: Petra Kvitova def. [12] Agnes Szavay 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2
Speaking of young talents with inspiring forehands...
In an all-teen battle for the fourth round, it was the 19-year-old Szavay who appeared to be the heavy favorite. A quarterfinalist at the 2007 US Open, the Hungarian upset Jelena Jankovic to win the China Open and began 2008 with a run to a final at the Paris Indoors.
But as we would soon learn over the next 12 years, one can't count out Petra Kvitova, not even as a teenager playing in her first major tournament. Fresh off a win over future finalist Samantha Stosur in the previous round, she steeled past Szavay in the opening set and roared through the decider to reach the second week. Though she would bow out to the always-dangerous Kaia Kanepi in the following round, make no mistake: Kvitova had arrived..
2010: [22] Justine Henin def. [12] Maria Sharapova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Much of what is most clearly remembered about Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova’s final clash came as light had all but faded that French evening. Henin, a four-time French Open winner who was in the midst of a comeback season – one that had already seen her cruise into the Australian Open’s championship match - had taken the first set against Sharapova, whose 2008 fourth round defeat to Dinara Safina preceded a year of injury woes that left the Russian well below her a full year into her own return to tennis.
And yet there must have been some magic in some of those specks of clay, or how else could one explain what was to come: Sharapova clawing a hitherto straightforward match from Henin’s hands, repeatedly crashing the net as she hit through her undersized opponent to level the match. Though Henin ultimately emerged victorious with some sorcery of her own when play resumed the following day, Sharapova proved the Career Grand Slam was within her grasp. The surface that had long been her stumbling block would soon be the stage on which she would play her best tennis of the decade.
2010: [19] Nadia Petrova def. [15] Aravane Rezai 6-7(2), 6-4, 10-8
If Amélie Mauresmo aimed to win Roland Garros with cunning and careful planning, countrywoman Aravane Rezai made her strongest big for hometown glory with a combination of firepower and unadulterated enthusiasm, both of which were roundly embraced by the Parisian crowd as she stood on the precipice of the second week.
Standing between Rezai and a rematch of the Mutua Madrid Open final she won over Venus Williams was Nadia Petrova, a two-time semifinalist long thought to have almost everything it took to compete with the game’s best, but one who regularly fell short within her generation’s golden cohort. Unwilling to be a footnote on Rezai’s epic story, however, the Russian veteran stepped in and gamely saved match points as night fell, and continued to blunt her French opposition’s audacious shotmaking with her own signature weight of shot, soon capturing a thrilling win that set her on course for the quarterfinals.
2011: [11] Marion Bartoli def. [17] Julia Goerges 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
In a year that followed Francesca Schiavone’s shock victory, Julia Goerges looked like a reasonable darkhorse to capture a maiden major of her own, having rolled through the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix field to win the biggest title of her career earlier that spring. Still, the cerebral German downplayed her chances of major success, opting instead to cite more likely contenders for the crown.
Her prediction ultimately proved true at the hands of France’s own Marion Bartoli, who announced herself on the Grand Slam stage by reaching the Wimbledon final in 2007 and seemingly saw herself equally deserving of a spot on Goerges’ shortlist. Rallying from a set down, Bartoli blasted through the final two sets with her blistering ground game, kicking off a surge that took her into a major semifinal smack in between her first Wimbledon run and a second that would come two years later – and end with the Venus Rosewater Dish in hand.
2013: [18] Jelena Jankovic def. [9] Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Jelena Jankovic enjoyed a 2013 renaissance that crested just in time for what had been her most consistently successful major tournaments. The spring surge began in Crandon Park, where she reached the semifinals, and a runner-up finish at the Volvo Car Open set her up in good stead for the clay court swing, where she took a test for ultimate redemption against Samantha Stosur.
It had been Stosur who halted Jankovic's seemingly unassailable run to Grand Slam glory back in 2010, hitting through the Serb's tentative defenses to reach her first major final, using the result as a launch pad to win the US Open 15 months later. Most at home on courts with high bounces, Stosur remained in rhythm to take the opening set, only for the former World No.1 to counterpunch her way to a final set - which she kicked off with a double-break advantage. Though the Aussie rolled through the next four games, momentum soon shifted and Jankovic to serve out her spot in the second week - later setting up a quarterfinal thriller with defending champion Maria Sharapova.
2015: [1] Serena Williams def. [27] Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
After injuries curtailed her 2014 season, Victoria Azarenka spent much of the following year seemingly one big win away from returning to the top of women's tennis. That test came far earlier in big tournaments than the Belarusian would have liked - particularly as it most often came against World No.1 Serena Williams. While the two-time Australian Open champion had overcome the American at big tournaments in the past, the majors proved a farther finish line, as it would on this Saturday evening in Paris.
Neither could call clay their best surface - although "best" is relative when Williams is a three-time French Open champion - but it was Azarenka who took the quicker start, moving within two games of victory at a set and 4-2. Williams responded with typical aplomb, dropping just five points in the next three games to flip the deficit into triple set point for a decider. The second set saw an even bigger reversal as the future 23-time Grand Slam winner reeled off the final six games to reach the second week in what would become the third leg of a second Non-Calendar Year "Serena" Slam.
2017: [28] Caroline Garcia def. Hsieh Su-Wei 6-4, 4-6, 9-7
Like Amélie Mauresmo, Garcia was born 10 miles from Paris in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and like her compatriot, has long showed potential to do great things in front of her home crowd. By 2017, it was all coming together as she found herself seeded and on the brink of a first fourth round appearance at any major tournament, much less her home Slam.
Across the net was former WTA Doubles No.1 Hsieh Su-Wei, who was a good six months away from the start of her proper singles surge but still capable of leaving opponents in fits, having started the tournament with a stunning win over No.7 seed Johanna Konta. Down 5-3 in the final set, she swept the next three games to find herself serving for the match, but it was Garcia who held her nerve, withstanding the Chinese Taipei veteran's full arsenal of shots to make her country proud en route to a quarterfinal debut.
