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Wozniacki finally held serve again to get to 4-1 and could have taken encouragement from Maria Sharapova's fightback to win from an identical position on Wednesday against French teenager Caroline Garcia.
PARIS: World No.1 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki was sent crashing out of the French Open on Friday when 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova thrashed her 6-1, 6-3 in a third round tie.
It was another Grand Slam flop for the 20-year-old Dane who has made a habit out of winning titles on the regular WTA tour, hence her top status, and then bombing at the four big Grand Slam events.
Her defeat came just a day after second seed Kim Clijsters had been knocked out in the second round.
Playing at the Suzanne Lenglen showcourt in cool windy conditions, Wozniacki held her opening service game to draw level at 1-1 and then promptly lost nine games in a row as the 28-year-old Slovak, playing in her 41st Grand Slam event, ran her ragged.
Wozniacki finally held serve again to get to 4-1 and could have taken encouragement from Maria Sharapova's fightback to win from an identical position on Wednesday against French teenager Caroline Garcia.
She secured her first service break of the match to get to 4-2, with Hantuchova complaining that the ball had bounced twice before the Dane reached her drop shot on break point, and then held her own serve.
With a hint of another comeback in the air, the pressure for the first time in the match was on Hantuchova, but she comfortably held to love to get to 5-3.
She then clinched one of the biggest wins in her career in the following game when a dismal Wozniacki netted a backhand drive.
Hantuchova will next play the 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia for a place in the quarterfinals.
Schiavone in next round
There were mixed fortunes for last year's finalists with defending champion Francesca Schiavone advancing to the last 16, and Samantha Stosur crashing out after being a break up in the deciding set.
The fifth-seeded Australian was serving at 2-1 up against un-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina when two double faults halted her momentum.
The South American, who had won the first four games of the third round tie before Stosur had seemingly turned the tide with some big hitting, took full advantage to take a 4-2 lead.
Dulko then served out twice to clinch a battling victory 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 after which she unfurled a white towel carrying congratulations to her brother and his wife who gave birth to twins on Wednesday.
For Stosur, it was a massive blow as she had been touted as a potential winner in a tournament blown wide open by the shock defeat of Kim Clijsters.
Schiavone also got off to a poor start against China's Peng Shuai before hitting back to win the first set 6-3, but then trailed 2-1 in the second when her opponent retired after struggling with respiratory problems.
It was the little Italian's 10th straight win at Roland Garros and she will next play former World No.1 one Jelena Jankovic, who saw off Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-2, 6-2.
Also going through on a cold, windy day was the 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who rediscovered some of the form that has been missing so far this year, to defeat Canadian hope Rebecca Marino 6-0, 6-4 in just 49 minutes.
In the men's singles, Roger Federer moved into the last 16 with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 win over Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic while Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer cruised past Sergiy Stakhovksy, the Ukrainian 31st seed, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi fought their way to the third round of the men's doubles after disposing off Argentine Maximo Gonzalez and Kei Nishikori of Japan in a thrilling three-setter.
The fifth-seeded Indo-Pak pair rallied from a set down to see off Maximo and Nishikori 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 17 minutes.
Bopanna and Qureshi will be up against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the next round. However, Bopanna could not create the same magic in the mixed doubles category and became a first round casualty along with Sania Mirza.
The Indian pair lost 6-7(4), 6-7(2) to Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in a hard-fought first-round showdown.
In the women's doubles event, Sania combined with Russian Elena Vesnina to dismiss the challenge from the German-Swede combo of Kristina Barrois and Johanna Larsson 7-6(4), 6-3.
Men: Third round: 7-David Ferrer (Esp) bt 31-Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; 3-Roger Federer (Sui) bt 29-Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt 30-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; Albert Montanes (Esp) bt 12-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-1, 7-6(0), 6-1; 9-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Steve Darcis (Bel) 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Second round: 18-Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; Michael Berrer (Ger) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; Lukas Rosol (Cze) bt 8-Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-7(4), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4; 21-Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 15-Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Tobias Kamke (Ger) 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4); Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt 32-Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
1-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Pablo Andujar (Esp) 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4); Antonio Veic (Cro) bt 28-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1; Leonardo Mayer (Arg) bt 27-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(6); 4-Andy Murray (GBR) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-5.
Women: Third round: 5-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt 29-Peng Shuai (Chn) 6-3, 1-2 retired; Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt 8-Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; 13-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Rebecca Marino (Can) 6-0, 6-4; 10-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 6-2, 6-2; 11-Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt 17-Julia Goerges (Ger) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4;
Second round: 4-Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Pauline Parmentier (Fra) 6-0, 6-1; 24-Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp) 7-6(4), 6-4.
16-Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Heather Watson (GBR) 6-1, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt Johanna Larsson (Swe) 6-3, 7-6(5); 30-Roberta Vinci (Ita) bt Iryna Bremond (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; 7-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Caroline Garcia (Fra) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; 15-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) bt Lucie Hradecka (Cze) 7-6(2), 6-2.
Men's doubles: Second round: 5-Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) & Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4.
First round: 5-Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) & Simone Vagnozzi (Ita) 6-3, 6-2.
Women's doubles: Second round: 7- Sania Mirza (Ind) & Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Kristina Barrois (Ger) & Johanna Larsson (Swe) 7-6(4), 6-3.
Mixed doubles: First round: Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) & Marcin Matkowski (Pol) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Sania Mirza (Ind) 7-6(4), 7-6(2) .
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