By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, May 28, 2022
Nine of the Top 10 women's seeds are out of Roland Garros as Paula Badosa retired to Veronika Kudermetova and Aryna Sabalenka lost to Camila Giorgi.
Photo credit: Getty
And then there was one.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is the only Top 10 seed still standing in Paris after a pair of elite players failed to survive round three.
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Third-seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa retired with a right knee injury while trailing Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 2-1 in today's Roland Garros third-round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
It is Kudermetova's fourth career Top 5 win, including her first Top 5 triumph on clay. The Moscow-born baseliner improved to 19-10 on the season.
On Court Simonne Mathieu, Italian giant killer Camila Giorgi rampaged through 12 of the final 13 games surprising seventh-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 storming into her first Roland Garros fourth round in her ninth appearance in Paris.
The explosive Giorgi won 17 of 23 points played on Sabalenka's second serve and converted six of 12 break points bursting into her first Grand Slam round of 16 since she advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2018.
A 2021 Roland Garros quarterfinalist, Badosa won eight of the first 10 points opening a 2-0 lead. Kudermetova, the 2021 Charleston champion, went on a five-game tear to take charge.
Badosa strained her right knee and took an injury timeout for treatment trailing 2-5.
Though the 2021 Indian Wells champion return to action she was clearly pained and hobbled.
From love-2 down, Kudermetova reeled off eight of the final 10 games before Badosa pulled the plug.
Contesting her 13th Grand Slam, Kudermetova is through to her first Roland Garros round of 16.
The 29th-ranked Kudermetova will face a big server in the fourth round, either 16th-seeded Elena Rybakina or former Roland Garros semifinalist Madison Keys.
Badosa and Sabalenka join second-seeded Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open singles and doubles champion, Maria Sakkari, Anett Kontaveit, Ons Jabeur, Karolina Pliskova, Danielle Collins and Garbine Muguruza as nine of the Top 10 seeds who failed to survive round three.
World No. 1 Swiatek is the lone Top 10 seed still standing while 11th-seeded American Jessica Pegula is the next highest-seed remaining in the top half of the draw.
No. 17-seeded Leylah Fernandez, who meets 2019 semifinalist Amanda Anisimova tomorrow, and 18th-seeded Coco Gauff are the highest seeds still standing in the bottom half of the draw. Swiatek and Sloane Stephens are the only Grand Slam singles champions remaining in the field.