Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer advance to third round

There was a shock as the women's third seed Simona Halep lost. But the defending champion Maria Sharapova is safely through to the third round so too the men's second seed Roger Federer.

Maria Sharapova. Reuters/Stefan Rellandini

Last year’s beaten finalist Simon Halep crashed out of the tournament on Wednesday. The Romanian 23-year-old was beaten in straight sets by the veteran Mijana Lucic-Baroni. It was 7-5 6-1.

Halep said she wasn’t at ease on court during the match, blaming a changed practice routine and a wayward game plan.

“I started to hit the ball too hard. I didn’t feel good about it. It’s not my style. I have to build the points,” she said after the defeat.

Maria Sharapova beat Halep in the 2014 final. The Russian second seed is into the third round following a straight sets win over her Russian Fed Cup team mate Vitalia Diatchenko.

Her next opponent is the Australian 26th seed Samantha Stosur. She breezed past the French woman Amandine Hesse 6-0 6-1.

“It will be a pretty tough match,” said Sharapova of her third round clash on Friday. “She hits a very heavy ball and on clay it penetrates through the court and the spin that she is able to create on her forehand is excellent. Her serve is good. She has one of the best kick serves in the game. There are a lot of untraditional things that she does but I enjoy that challenge.”

The home crowds were kept happy. The 29th seed Alizé Cornet advanced at the expense of the unseeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru. The exploits though came in the men’s draw. The wildcard Nicolas Mahut dispatched the Latvian 24th seed Ernests Gulbis. Last year’s semi- finalist lost in four sets to the 33-year-old who is into the third round for only the second time in his career. Benoit Paire accounted for the Italian 28th seed Fabio Fognini, a player more than 40 places above him in the world rankings.

The 12th seed Gilles Simon and 14th seed Jo Wilifried Tsonga enjoyed routine wins while 13th seed Gael Monfils was the showman incarnate coming from two sets to one down to beat the unseeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

Further up the food chain there were few surprises. The Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori had too much guile for the Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci and the Swiss second seed Roger Federer was always in control against the Spaniard Marcel Granollers.

Federer’s compatriot Stan Wawrinka needed four sets to see off Dusan Lajovic from Serbia. Tomas Berdych also required four sets. The Czech fourth seed laboured for three hours and 19 minutes against his Davis Cup team mate Radek Stepanek.