Radwanska, Halep slam playing in the rain
French Open organisers came under a double broadside from two of the biggest names in women’s tennis on Tuesday for forcing players out onto the courts during persistent rain. World number two Agnieszka Radwanska said she was angry and surprised that her fourth round match was staged. Former finalist Simona Halep branded tournament directors scared because of the scheduling pile-up.
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Radwanska was leading 6-3 3-0 against Tsvetana Pironkova when rain and bad light stopped play on Sunday night. With all of Monday’s play cancelled due to the rain, the pair was scheduled first on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Pironkova, ranked 100 places beneath Radwanska, won six consecutive games to level the match at one set apiece before they were forced off because of rain.
When they resumed two and a half hours later, Pironkova continued her streak to go 4-0 up in the decider. Though Radwanska enjoyed a mini revival to make it 4-2, the 28-year-old claimed the set 6-3 to advance to her first quarter-finals at the French Open at her 11th attempt.
“This isn’t a small tournament, it’s a Grand Slam,” said Radwanska after the defeat. “How can you play in conditions like we’ve been having? I can’t play in the wet and on a court which is slippery. I don’t think that the organisers are listening to players. They’re clearly thinking about other things.”
Halep unhappy
Halep, the 2014 runner-up, was also critical of the decision to make her and Samantha Stosur carry on their fourth round match. Halep was leading 5-3 in the first set when play was halted on Sunday night. When they resumed on Tuesday, she lost it in a tie-break and Stosur surged on to win the second and advance to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.
Halep said she did not even want to go on court.
“The surface was not good. The balls were wet, completely wet, during the match,” said the 24-year-old Romanian. “I think it’s too difficult to play tennis in these conditions. I don’t know why they got us to play. Maybe they are scared. The days are going on and matches aren’t being played.”
Halep conceded that Stosur had played better.
“The conditions suited her game. She hits with a lot of topspin. Her ball was very heavy. I played as well as I could,” she added.
Only two hours' play possible
In all, just over two hours of play was possible on the 10th day of the tournament.
The last 16 matches in the top half of the women’s draw were cancelled for the second day running. The two men’s quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw were also postponed. When play was cancelled for the day at 7.00pm, 11th seed David Ferrer was 2-1 up against seventh seed Tomas Berdych on Court Suzanne Lenglen and it was one set apiece on Court 1 between 13th seed Dominic Thiem and Marcel Granollers.
Top seed Novak Djokovic also appeared to be warming to his task. The Serb was out of sorts at the start of his match against the 14th seeded Spaniard, Roberto Bautista-Agut. But after losing the first set, the Serb claimed the second and started to turn on the style to lead 4-1 in the third before the persistent rain was deemed too heavy.
On Court 1, Ernests Gulbis and 12th seed David Goffin did not wait for officials to suggest a pause. They simply said they did not want to play on in the pouring rain. News of their gesture brought a wry thumbs-up from Halep.
To read more articles on Roland Garros 2016, click here.
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