French Open: Serena withdraws; Nadal, Halep cruise

 

Serena Williams suffered another blow in her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title as the American withdrew from Roland Garros on Wednesday with an Achilles injury.

Three-time winner Serena pulled out ahead of her second round match against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova citing the injury that prompted her to skip the Rome tune-up event.

“The Achilles didn’t have enough time to heal after the US Open,” said Williams, who admitted last week she was not fully fit after her run to the semifinals in New York.

“I’m struggling to walk, so that’s kind of a telltale sign that I should try to recover.”

The injury likely means she will miss the rest of 2020, leaving the Australian Open in 2021 as her next chance to equal Margaret Court’s all-time majors record.

Meanwhile, 12-time champion Rafael Nadal and women’s top seed Simona Halep eased into the third round.

Nadal looked in ominous form as he stepped up his pursuit of Roger Federer’s 20 major titles with a crushing win over 236th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald.

The Spaniard batted aside McDonald 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 in exactly 100 minutes and will meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori or Stefano Travaglia of Italy for a spot in the last 16.

Women’s favourite and 2018 champion Halep beat compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4 to extend her career-best winning streak to 16 matches.

However, her next opponent is American 25th seed Amanda Anisimova, the teenager who dumped her out in straight sets in last year’s quarterfinals.

US Open champion Dominic Thiem swept into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory over American qualifier Jack Sock, saving three set points to close out the match.

The Austrian third seed will play Norway’s Casper Ruud for a place in the last 16.

“I’m very happy with my game in the first two rounds. It was not an easy draw at all and I’m very happy not to drop a set,” said Thiem, who defeated 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic in round one.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 winner, followed up his demolition of Andy Murray with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat of Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.