French Open: Third Round Report

Unlike the second round, the third round went without a hitch as the weather finally improved. This doesn't mean there weren't shocking results in the meantime.

Who could've predicted that the last American man standing would be 98th ranked Robby Ginepri? Ginepri defeated 16th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in five sets while his fellow Americans 6th seed Andy Roddick and 17th seed John Isner lost to Teimuraz Gabashvilli and 15th seed Tomas Berdych respectively in straight sets. The Isner-Berdych result was to be expected, but Roddick must be kicking himself at the results. It stings even more because his projected opponent, 9th seed David Ferrer, was also inexplicably beaten by 22nd seed Jurgen Melzer! 14th seed Ivan Ljubicic was taken out as well, defeated by 24th seed Thomaz Bellucci.

Top seed Roger Federer was the first one through to the fourth round with an easy win while 2nd seed Rafael Nadal also had a relatively comfortable time in his match with 28th seed Lleyton Hewitt. And finally, here's a fascinating scoreline from the Andy Murray-Marcos Baghdatis match: 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2. Did Murray fall asleep in the third set?

For the women, one third round match was not completed and it's the one everyone has been buzzing about. Multiple Grand Slam winners Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova were tied at one set a piece before play was suspended for the day. Based on their clay histories, one would've expected Henin to walk away with the win, so this is quite interesting. Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to fellow countrywomen and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko, which just continues the recent bad results for the two time Grand Slam winner.

Top 16 seeds Na Li, Marion Bartoli, and Yanina Wickmayer were defeated in straight sets by 17th seed Francesca Schiavone, 18th seed Shahar Peer, and 23rd seed Daniela Hantuchova respectively. Meanwhile, 19th seed Nadia Petrova survived her match with 15th seed Aravane Rezai winning 10-8 in the third set. Meanwhile, the top four seeds--Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Jelena Jankovic all move through to the fourth round.

The second week begins tomorrow.