Svetlana Kuznetsova won the French Open when she outplayed Dinara Safina, her fellow Russian and the world No 1, 6-4, 6-2 in the final on Saturday.
The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, dictated the points throughout and prevailed after 74 minutes on Centre Court.
The opening week at Roland Garros featured some riveting chaos on the clay. Both of the defending champions were knocked out. Robin Soderling pulled off one of the greatest Grand Slam upsets with his stunning win over Rafael Nadal. What surprises will week two at the French Open bring on the terre battue in Paris?
Door is open for Federer
The reverberations of Nadal’s shocking loss to Soderling are still being felt around the tennis world. Nadal destroyed the Swede three weeks ago in Rome, losing just one game in his straight-sets victory.
Novak Djokovic is out of the French Open, beaten by 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in Paris.
The Serbian has become the first big name in the men’s tournament to fall.
He has reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in each of the last two years, but could do little against Kohlschreiber, playing for the third time in three days.
Roger Federer made it through to the fourth round, despite losing another set, beating Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Third seed Venus Williams became the first big name to exit the French Open after a 6-0 6-4 defeat by Agnes Szavay.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, has now fallen at the third round in each of the last three years.
Szavay, the 29th seed from Hungary, stormed through the first set and then outplayed Williams in the second to set up a meeting with Dominika Cibulkova.
The King of Clay eclipsed another mark Monday, this time breaking the French Open men’s record for consecutive wins.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal looked his usual dominant self in the first round, beating Marcos Daniel of Brazil 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 for his 29th straight win on the red clay at Roland Garros.
“At the beginning, I didn’t quite get the best feelings, but I won in three sets. That’s very positive,” Nadal said. “I should have won more easily … but it was a difficult match.”
Roger Federer got a badly needed confidence boost ahead of the French Open, beating top-ranked Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 6-4, on Sunday to win his first title of the season at the Madrid Open.
The second-ranked Federer broke a sluggish Nadal once in both sets before firing his sixth ace to win his 15th Masters Series title on the second match point. Federer also won here in 2006 when the event was played indoors on a hard court.
