Sharapova booed after win, China suffer duo blows at Roland Garros
(Agencies) Updated: 2015-05-26 10:40PARIS - Defending champion Maria Sharapova breezed through to the second round but was booed off court on Monday, while two Chinese bowed out of the French Open after tumbling at the first hurdle.
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Maria Sharapova of Russia plays a shot to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during their women's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, May 25, 2015. [Photo/Agencies] |
Wang Qiang is now the only Chinese remaining in the singles main draw after rising star Zheng Saisai was crushed by Czech veteran Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 6-0 and Zhang Shuai's fifth trip to Roland Garros was snapped by 12th seed Karolina Pliskova.
The 21-year-old Zheng, ranked 62nd in the world, found it hard to cope with the big hitting Hradecka and went down in one hour and two minutes.
Playing her first French Open main draw, Zheng has been tipped to make some impact in international arena. Her best result on the WTA Tour was reaching the semifinals in last year's Shenzhen Open.
Zhang Shuai, 26, lost 7-6 (4), 6-4 to Piskova in one hour 33 minutes, seeing off her chance after successfully holding every game of serve in the first set.
The former world No. 30, who has played 14 major tournaments without a single through into the second round, suffered an injury setback last year and slipped to the 122nd in the WTA rankings.
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| Saisai Zheng of China plays a shot to Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic during their women's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, May 25, 2015. |
No. 2 seed Sharapova claimed a breezy victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-2, 6-4, to set up a second round encounter against fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko.
The 28-year-old, however, was booed after refusing to do a post-match interview inside Court Philippe Chatrier, the court where she twice claimed the French Open triumph in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova told a post-match press conference that she'd been suffering a cold, just like last year when she was also sick at the start of the tournament.
"I totally understand that everyone usually does the interviews and answers a few questions to the crowd," she said. "It's absolutely normal. I'm not making any excuses but I've got to do what I have to do."
Andy Murray hit the center court later on and did not waste any time to clinch a clinical victory 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 against Argentina's "lucky loser" Facundo Arguello.
