No. 13 seed Kristina Mladenovic recorded a dramatic third-round win over 2016 Roland Garros quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers, 7-5, 4-6, 8-6.
French crowd is euphoric. Mladenovic keeps on. Faces Muguruza next….
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) June 2, 2017
In the opening set, Rogers drew first blood, breaking to go up 3-1. But the American was unable to consolidate, letting Mladenovic break and hold to tie the set at 3.
Mladenovic, at 3-4, went down 0-40, but won five consecutive points to save the game. Rogers responded by holding to love for 5-4.
At 5-5, brilliant returning and groundstrokes from Mladenovic allowed the Frenchwoman to break for 6-5 and serve for the first set. Mladenovic then held to 30, winning the set 7-5.
At 3-3 in the second, Rogers fought off three break points to keep the set on serve. Then Mladenovic had to save a break point in order to make it 4-4.
Mladenovic-Rogers is everything we thought it would be. Tough, tight battle. Rogers had her chances in the 1st, great resilience from Kiki.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) June 2, 2017
Rogers later broke Mladenovic at 15 to win the second set 6-4.
In the first game of the final set, Rogers fought off three break points to hold her serve, at which point play was briefly suspended due to thunder.
Once the match resumed, a handful of Mladenovic errors put Rogers up 2-0. But Mladenovic took the break right back on a missed Rogers backhand. In the next game, though, Rogers broke again for 3-1.
It looked as though Rogers was going to carry that lead to a 6-3 victory, but at 5-3, Mladenovic broke Rogers at love, bringing the decider to 5-4 on serve. Mladenovic then held for 5-5 to stay in the match.
The players went on to exchange holds, bringing the advantage deciding set to 6-6.
Mladenovic then broke Rogers at love, earning the opportunity to serve for the match. She was able to seal the 8-6 set with a forehand winner.
In the Round of 16, Mladenovic will face defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza, who won in straight sets Friday over Yulia Putintseva.
To open Day 6 play on Court 2, Jelena Ostapenko executed a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over world No. 42 Lesia Tsurenko.
Out of the gate, Ostapenko dominated, winning the first five games. Then Tsurenko finally got on the board by breaking Ostapenko at 30. But the 19-year-old broke back at 15 for the 6-1 baguette.
To start the second set, Tsurenko broke at love after Ostapenko missed a forehand long. Tsurenko subsequently held to 15 for a 2-0 lead.
Ostapenko won the next two games, but Tsurenko regained the lead on a netted backhand from the Latvian. But Ostapenko evened things again at 3-3 with a forehand winner, and she followed the break with a hold to 15 for 4-3, putting herself two games from Round 4.
In the game the followed, Ostapenko broke Tsurenko via a backhand winner down the line, though she would fail to serve out the match. Still, Ostapenko managed to break at 30 to win the set 6-4 and the match in straights.
In her next match, Ostapenko will play No. 23 seed Sam Stosur.
