Paris, June 3: Italy's Sara Errani won the first eight games and the last four Sunday to oust 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova from the French Open, 6-0, 7-5.
Errani, seeded 21st, made her second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she'll face 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Petra Martic.
On a blustery day at Roland Garros, the 26th-seeded Kuznetsova committed 14 unforced errors to only four by Errani during a first set that lasted only 30 minutes.
Kuznetsova, who defeated third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the fourth round, broke serve on the way to a 5-3 lead in the second but dropped four straight games to close things out. That leaves Li Na as the only former French Open champion left in the women's draw.
“I started to play better, the right points at the right time,” Kuznetsova said. “But at 5-3, I just didn't play the right thing. Maybe I rushed too much. Sara, for her game, it's the best I've seen her play. Her ball is very good on clay. I'm far away from my best form yet.”
Five women have won the last five Grand Slam titles and the last four majors have been won by first-time champions. Errani would fit that category, still in the mix after parlaying the win over Kuznetsova with an earlier victory over another former French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic.
Other fourth-round matches scheduled for Sunday included top-ranked Novak Djokovic facing No. 22 Andreas Seppi and 2009 champion Roger Federer playing “lucky loser” David Goffin of Belgium. Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka also was in action, playing No. 15 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
On Saturday, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki looked nothing like the player who finished the last two seasons as the top-ranked woman in the world, falling 6-1, 6-7 (3) 6-3 to No. 23 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Wozniacki held serve only once in the first set, and then held to open the second. But in the third game, she was broken on a disputed point.
Wozniacki was sure Kanepi's shot was wide, and called for the chair umpire to show him the spot, which the Dane claimed was out.
Poncho Ayala of Spain, however, agreed with the original call that the ball hit the line.
“How can you sit there and be so arrogant?” Wozniacki said to Ayala. “Have you gone to school?”
After coming back to win the second set, Wozniacki again argued a line call in the third.
Kanepi, who finally won on her fifth match point despite being broken four times while serving for the match, said she wasn't affected by the uproar.
“Well, I think that those things happen in tennis matches, so it's OK if she wants to argue,” Kanepi said. “I have to be ready for that and take it easy.”
