Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reacts after missing a shot against Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Wednesday, Sept. 30
U.S. Open runner-up Victoria Azarenka is out of the French Open in the second round.
The 10th-seeded Azarenka lost to 161st-ranked Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-2.
Azarenka’s exit means all four women who reached the semifinals in New York earlier this month already are gone in Paris. Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open because of an injured Achilles tendon, Jennifer Brady lost in the first round at Roland Garros and U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka did not make the trip to France.
Schmiedlova had lost 13 consecutive Grand Slam matches in a streak dating to 2015 until beating Venus Williams in the first round this week.
Azarenka is a former No. 1 and a two-time champion at the Australian Open.
Elina Svitolina could not hold back the tears when remembering her favorite mascot.
The third-seeded Ukrainian player was speaking in her post-match news conference after beating Renata Zarazua 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 to reach the third round.
She was asked at the end of the session how important the mascot called Bobik had been in her life, and whether she still had it.
Svitolina soon wiped away her tears.
“Well, it’s a really good question. Actually very sad for me because in 2018 I lost him,” she said. “It was very sad.”
Svitolina became even more tearful and took a few moments to compose herself.
“Sorry. I lost him. Yeah, it’s like this,” she said. “It’s a toy, but he was my talisman, my lucky charm.”
