Maria Sharapova routed by Garbine Muguruza in French Open quarterfinal

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2018, 1:55 PM EDT

The extra rest from Maria Sharapova‘s walkover from an injured Serena Williams did little for her in the French Open quarterfinals.

Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, the No. 3 seed and 2016 French Open champ, routed Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes to advance to Thursday’s semifinals against top-ranked Simona Halep, a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2 winner over Angelique Kerber later Wednesday.

Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys meet in the other Thursday semi.

On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal‘s quarterfinal was stopped by rain with Argentine Diego Schwartzman leading 6-4, 3-5, and Nadal serving, two points from evening the match. Nadal-Schwartzman and the last men’s quarterfinal, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro tied 5-5 in a first-set tiebreak, are scheduled to resume Thursday at 6 a.m. ET.

Sharapova, a two-time French Open champ, played at Roland Garros this year for the first time since 2015. She missed 2016 due to a doping ban and wasn’t given a wild card in 2017, when her comeback ranking wasn’t high enough to earn a main-draw spot.

Sharapova was to face Williams in a fourth-round showdown Monday. The Russian received a walkover after Williams withdrew with a right pectoral muscle injury that prevented her from serving.

On Wednesday, Sharapova looked far from her best right from the start, double-faulting three times to get broken in the opening game. She ended up with six double-faults and 27 total unforced errors, 12 more than Muguruza.

“I think she did a lot of things better than I did. I think she was the aggressive one,” Sharapova said. “She had a lot more depth in the ball. I think my shots were a lot more forced. She served a lot better than I did.”

Muguruza hasn’t dropped a set in Paris. She entered Wednesday’s quarterfinal fresh, too, after Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko retired from their fourth-round match Monday with a leg injury after two games.

NBC, NBCSports.com/live and NBC Sports app coverage of the French Open continues Thursday at 11 a.m. across all time zones.

French Open Semifinals
Women
(1) Simona Halep – (3) Garbine Muguruza
(13) Madison Keys – (10) Sloane Stephens

Men
(1) Nadal/(11) Schwartzman – (3) Cilic/(5) Del Potro
Marco Cecchinato – (7) Dominic Thiem

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 7:02 AM EDT

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Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. France’s top player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, or 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova is next.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married French player Gael Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal. (Monfils won his French Open first-round five-setter after midnight, then was on hand for Svitolina’s 11 a.m. start Wednesday.)

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

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2023 French Open TV, live stream schedule

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 6:48 PM EDT

The French Open airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points at Roland Garros in Paris.

Tennis Channel has live daily coverage with NBC and Peacock coming back for the middle weekend, plus the men’s and women’s singles semifinals and finals.

All NBC TV coverage also streams on NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app.

It’s the first French Open since 2004 without Rafael Nadal, the record 14-time champion who is out with a hip injury and hopes to return next year for a likely final time.

In his place, the favorites are top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who is tied with Nadal for the men’s record 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men

No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland is favored to claim a third French Open title, a year after beating American Coco Gauff in the final. She bids to join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win the French Open three or more times since 2000.

Two Americans are ranked in the top six in the world — No. 3 Jessica Pegula and Gauff.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Broadcast Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Platform	Round
Sunday, May 28	5 a.m.-4 p.m.	Tennis Channel	First Round
	12-3 p.m.	Peacock (STREAM LINK)
Monday, May 29	5 a.m.-3 p.m.	Tennis Channel	First Round
	11 a.m.-3 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)
	3-5:30 p.m.	Peacock (STREAM LINK)
Tuesday, May 30	5 a.m.-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel	First Round
Wednesday, May 31	5 a.m.-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Second Round
Thursday, June 1	5 a.m.-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Second Round
Friday, June 2	5 a.m.-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Third Round
Saturday, June 3	5 a.m.-1 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Third Round
	12-3 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)
	3-5:30 p.m.	Peacock (STREAM LINK)
Sunday, June 4	5 a.m.-1 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Fourth Round
	12-3 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)
	3-5:30 p.m.	Peacock (STREAM LINK)
Monday, June 5	5 a.m.-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Fourth Round
Tuesday, June 6	5 a.m.-12 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Quarterfinals
	2-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel
Wednesday, June 7	5 a.m.-12 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Quarterfinals
	2-5 p.m.	Tennis Channel
Thursday, June 8	6 a.m.-2 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Women’s Semifinals
	11 a.m.-2 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)
Friday, June 9	8 a.m.-4 p.m.	Tennis Channel	Men’s Semifinals
	11 a.m.-3 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)
Saturday, June 10	9 a.m.-2 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)	Women’s Final
Sunday, June 11	9 a.m.-2 p.m.	NBC (STREAM) \| Peacock (STREAM)	Men’s Final

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