4th-seeded Novak Djokovic loses to Kohlschreiber in 3rd round of French Open

Djokovic loses in 3rd round of French Open

PARIS — Novak Djokovic became the first big-name player to be eliminated from the men’s tournament at the French Open, losing to No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Serb reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in each of the last two years, but could do little against Kohlschreiber while playing for the third time in three days.

No. 6 Andy Roddick managed to stick around, however, reaching the French Open’s fourth round for the first time by beating Marc Gicquel of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Roddick is only the second American to advance this far at the clay-court major since Andre Agassi in 2003, the same year Roddick won the U.S. Open. Robby Ginepri also made the fourth round in Paris last year.

“It’s three matches,” said Roddick, who had seven aces and only 11 unforced errors. “It’s a lot better than I’ve done here before.”

Roddick has reached at least the semifinals at the other three majors. Besides winning the 2003 U.S. Open, he also is a two-time runner-up at Wimbledon. But at the French Open, Roddick’s best performance before this year was the third round in his 2001 debut.

“I like my chances maybe more than the other years,” Roddick said. “I feel like I’m moving a little bit better on this stuff. I’m able to kind of slide into my forehand.”

Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro also advanced, beating Igor Andreev of Russia 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, No. 11 Gael Monfils of France, No. 16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and Tommy Haas of Germany also gained the fourth round.

On the women’s side, fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva lost to No. 30 Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Dementieva’s exit came a day after No. 3 Venus Williams lost in straight sets.

Stosur converted seven of her 15 break points against Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up at Roland Garros.

“I just feel I’m far away from … being in good shape,” Dementieva said. “I feel like I couldn’t perform any better.”

Stosur has never before reached the fourth round at the French. She made it that far at the 2006 Australian Open, but has never played in the quarterfinals at a major.

“As that match went on today I knew I could get there because I was playing (well) enough and was handling the conditions and everything maybe a little bit better than her,” Stosur said.

Fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic and No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova easily advanced to the fourth round. Jankovic defeated 73rd-ranked Jarmila Groth of Australia 6-1, 6-1, and Kuznetsova beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.

“I was just doing my thing,” Kuznetsova said. “I was depending on myself and not on her. … I think I controlled all of the match.”

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, reached the French Open final in 2006 but lost to Justine Henin.

No. 9 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus completed her comeback over No. 22 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Suarez Navarro won the first set Friday and Azarenka took the second before play was suspended because of darkness.

No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, No. 24 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada and unseeded Virginie Razzano of France also advanced.