By virtue of her excellent form, Dubai, Miami and Brussels titles in 2012 and the fact that in the entire year so far she’s lost only to Victoria Azarenka (six times, though) and Petra Cetkovska, world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska was tipped off as one of the favorites for the Roland Garros title and by displaying the craftiness of her game in the defeat of Venus Williams in the second round, the Pole only reaffirmed the tennis world’s predictions. However, in the third round against two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Radwanska won only three games, looked nervous and passive and left Roland Garros without proving herself on big stage. Kuznetsova may currently be 25 spots lower in the rankings than Radwanska, but the experienced Russian had no trouble demolishing the third seed 6-1 6-2.
In the fourth round, the 2009 French Open champion Kuznetsova, seeded No.26 this year, will play Sara Errani, seed No.21. Errani advanced with a 1-6 7-5 6-3 victory over former titlist on the grand stage of Paris Ana Ivanovic, who was so optimistic about the current state of her tennis, especially after winning her first round against Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino 6-1 6-1 and her second round against Shahar Peer 6-2 6-2. Ivanovic blames her bad serve for the defeat. However, even though Ivanovic is a much more famous WTA name, the meeting with Errani was expected to be tricky, especially because the Italian won three straight claycourt titles this season: Acapulco, Barcelona and Budapest. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)
