Passport to RG, Day 4—Errani serves up Bertens beef; Azarenka ousted

No signs of trouble so far for the two men who've faced off in the past two finals. Dominic Thiem rolled to his first set, 6-1, over Jack Sock, before Rafael Nadal joined him with a 6-1 lead of his own over Mackenzie McDonald.

After taking a short warmup, Serena Williams and coach Patrick Mouratoglou mutually decided it wasn't in the 23-time major champion's best interest to play. Here's what Serena had to say about the decision and the seriousness of her Achilles injury, which first flared up in the US Open semifinals.

"I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing, at least two weeks of just sitting down, and then from after that two weeks I have been told that I need to start doing a little training."

"This is not a nagging injury. This is an acute injury. So if it was my knee, that would be more really devastating for me. But this is something that just happened, and it's super acute. That's totally different. I feel like my body is actually doing really, really well. I just ran into, for lack of a better word, bad timing and bad luck, really, in New York."

Top seed Simona Halep was a popular pre-tournament pick to win Roland Garros, and it's understandable why given her 15-match win streak. But Amanda Anisimova might have something to say about that if the Romanian advances later today after the American defeated the 2018 winner in the quarterfinals a year ago.

Moved last-minute to Chatrier, Anisimova needed just 57 minutes to overwhelm countrywoman Bernarda Pera. The left-hander actually broke to start the match, and held two game points for a chance to consolidate. That didn't happen and Anisimova would take complete control in winning 58 percent of her return points.

In another match full of stars and stripes, 20-year-old Sebastian Korda knocked out top-ranked American John Isner, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Korda won 57 percent of his second serve points to Isner's 43 percent success rate en route to becoming the first man born in 2000 to reach the third round at the clay-court major.

From first ball to last, keep up to date with the latest from Roland Garros every day on TENNIS.com. We'll have match updates, photos, video highlights and more in our daily notebook: Passport to RG.

Qualifier Martina Trevisan looked to be in position to close out Coco Gauff at 5-3, 40-40 in the third, only to have what appeared to be an incorrect call by the chair umpire go against her, and shortly thereafter see the 16-year-old American level the set.

The left-hander didn't allow the situation to control her emotions, and with some help with Gauff, who couldn't get anything going on her serve and paid the price—finishing with 19 double faults—advanced to the third round of a major for the first time with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory. The No. 20 seed, Maria Sakkari, presents Trevisan's next challenge.

Her countryman, Jannik Sinner, closed out singles play for the day by halting wild card Benjamin Bonzi, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, to back up his win over No. 11 seed David Goffin and match Trevisan's feat of achieving his best run at a Slam in his young tour-level career.

Sinner, making his event debut, gets Federico Coria on Friday. The Argentine, younger brother of former Roland Garros finalist Guillermo Coria, knocked off No. 23 seed Benoit Paire, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

A quarterfinals here in 2017, Caroline Garcia hasn't been able to replicate the feat since at a major, though has an opportunity to make it happen after securing another impressive win.

The 26-year-old defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 7-6 (5), 6-2, increasing her undefeated record against the Belarusian to 4-0. Garcia will look to get through to the round of 16 against one of the busiest players of the tour restart, Elise Mertens. The No. 16 seed topped Kaia Kanepi, 7-5, 6-4, for her 17th singles victory since August.

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Though two separate break advantages in his deciding set disappeared, the benefit of serving first would prove pivotal for Alexander Zverev. The world No. 7 would break for a sixth time to edge Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 in just under four hours. Both players finished with 164 points, but it's Zverev who takes the 15th five-setter of the event thus far.

Martina Trevisan stormed back to take the second set, 6-2, against Coco Gauff. The lefty punished the American's second serve, winning 17 of 19 points—10 coming off double faults.

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Upon hearing that her integrity was called into question by Sara Errani, No. 5 seed Kiki Bertens had this to say about her injury/cramping issues when informed about the Italian's stance in her virtual press conference.

"She can say whatever she feels like, but yeah, well, then maybe I should take some more acting classes or should pursue a career in that, I'm not sure what she's thinking, but, no, I didn't feel really good on court to be honest," said Bertens.

"But a good thing I think it was for me that all the time the cramps were coming and going again, it was not like that it was staying in the body. So I felt like I had to stay calm and not be pumped too much because all the time when I did the fist pump like I could not do the fingers any more normal, so I just [tried] to stay calm and let the cramps go again."

There hasn't been too much for home fans to get excited about at Roland Garros so far, but that could all potentially change over the next 30 to 60 minutes.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert has forced sixth seed Alexander Zverev to play five sets after claiming the fourth, 6-4. Across the way on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, countrywoman Caroline Garcia erased a break deficit to snatch her opening set, 7-6 (5), against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Coco Gauff, who started 2.5 hours after fellow Team8 client Zverev, may get off the court before the German. The 16-year-old is up, 6-4, on Martina Trevisan, looking to punch her ticket in the third round of a fourth different major event (2019 Wimbledon-fourth round, 2019 US Open-third round, 2020 Australian Open-fourth round).

World No. 2 Simona Halep outclassed Irina-Cameila Begu, 6-3, 6-4, improving to 5-0 in tour-level encounters with her countrywoman and 13-0 overall against fellow Romanians. The 2018 champion has now won her past 16 matches, dating back to her title run at Dubai in late February. Since the restart, she's won a dozen clay-court matches after triumphing at Prague and Rome.

With the win, Halep confirmed a third-round clash with the woman who stopped her in Paris last year, Amanda Anisimova. The American dropped just two games earlier Tuesday in her own all-country matchup with Bernarda Pera.

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With a career-high ranking of No. 25, Rome semifinalist Casper Ruud had to feel pretty good coming into Paris. He was forced to go the distance by former Roland Garros junior champion Tommy Paul, though the match wasn't particularly long for a five setter. Ruud did not face a break point in the decider to wrap up a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win after two hours and 36 minutes.

The 21-year-old now has 17 wins in 21 matches on red dirt in 2020. His clay-court prowess will be put to its biggest test of the year in the third round, when Ruud squares off against two-time finalist Dominic Thiem. The two have never met on the ATP tour before.

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Top seed Simona Halep grabbed the first set, 6-3, over fellow Romanian Irina-Cameila Begu. A win would see Halep get a shot at redemption against Amanda Anisimova in the third round. The American stunned the 2018 champion with a straight-sets victory in last year's quarterfinals.

Over on Chatrier, No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev rebounded from a slow start to draw even with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 2-6, 6-4. Zverev has appeared in the final eight the past two years in Paris.

The second -round match between Norway's Casper Ruud and American Tommy Paul has gone the distance, with Paul cruising to the fourth set, 6-1.

Qualifier Sara Errani battled fifth seed Kiki Bertens for more than three hours and had her on the ropes, with three chances to serve out the match in a lengthy deciding set. It didn't work out for the 2012 finalist, who held one match point, and Bertens, who was treated for a left quad injury multiple times during the match, left the court in a wheelchair after winning the decisive set, 9-7.

Having seen the Dutchwoman inside the player areas a short time later, Errani didn't mince her words about the former semifinalist when discussing her point of view with press.

"I don't like when somebody is joking on you. She played an amazing match but I don't like the situation," she said. "One hour, she's injured and she run like never. I don't like that. She go out of the court in the chair and now she's in the locker perfect, and the restaurant. I don't like these things, I'm sorry."

As for her serving issues, Errani commented, " the last two years I’ve had many problems. I'm just trying to be there and trying to compete with what I have. There are days where it’s really bad and it's very tough for me so I just try to compete."

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Things got interesting late in Dominic Thiem's second-round match, when Jack Sock held three set points at 6-3 in their tiebreaker to force a fourth set. The world No. 3 instead claimed five consecutive points to get off the court with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory after two hours and 22 minutes—a significant save given the Austrian's potential taxing road back to the championship match.

Thiem, the runner-up in 2018 and 2019, is playing his first event since joining the major champion's club at the US Open. His third-round opponent is yet to be determined, as Casper Ruud and Tommy Paul have traded 6-1 sets. Should Thiem and Stan Wawrinka both win their next rounds, two of the heaviest ball strikers in tennis will collide for a blockbuster battle.

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"I felt like I was trying a lot, trying different things, but today things were not working. I felt like nothing really was working, but I still had to find a way to win, and I didn't," Victoria Azarenka said in her virtual press conference after going down, 6-2, 6-2, to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

"So it's a lesson for me to learn how to be more, I will say, courageous, to go for more. And I will learn it, for sure."

In a clinical display, 12-time winner Rafael Nadal sailed through to the third round in one hour and 40 minutes, moving to 95-2 at the event.

Nadal took apart Mackenzie McDonald, 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, by breaking the American seven times over eight chances on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The left-hander protected his serve, as the American was unable to create a single break opportunity, and took 13 of 16 points when coming forward.

For a place in the round of 16, Nadal gets either Kei Nishikori or Stefano Travaglia.

Since returning from a disappointing trip to New York, Diego Schwartzman has found his mojo, winning six of seven matches on European clay.

The ninth seed eased past Lorenzo Giustino, 6-1, 7-5, 6-0, after capitalizing on 10 of his 14 break points against the Italian. Schwartzman, who picked up his first win over Rafael Nadal on his way to the Rome final, was a quarterfinalist here two years ago. He awaits Norbert Gombos or qualifier Jurij Rodionov.

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From 2-2 in the third set, Kiki Bertens and Sara Errani exchanged 10 successive breaks of serve. All day long, Errani's ball toss impeded her ability to feel comfortable at the line. She would resort to underhand serves to avoid additional time violation penalties. Yet, the former Roland Garros runner-up found a way to stay competitive for more than three hours.

Bertens, struggling physically with a left quad injury and cramps, saved a match point at 5-6 to get back on serve, and though Errani would serve for the match, dug in to get her first win in six meetings with the Italian after prevailing, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 9-7. She would collapse on court in relief.

No signs of trouble so far for the two men who've faced off in the past two finals. Dominic Thiem rolled to his first set, 6-1, over Jack Sock, before Rafael Nadal joined him with a 6-1 lead of his own over Mackenzie McDonald.

After taking a short warmup, Serena Williams and coach Patrick Mouratoglou mutually decided it wasn't in the 23-time major champion's best interest to play. Here's what Serena had to say about the decision and the seriousness of her Achilles injury, which first flared up in the US Open semifinals.

"I think I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing, at least two weeks of just sitting down, and then from after that two weeks I have been told that I need to start doing a little training."

"This is not a nagging injury. This is an acute injury. So if it was my knee, that would be more really devastating for me. But this is something that just happened, and it's super acute. That's totally different. I feel like my body is actually doing really, really well. I just ran into, for lack of a better word, bad timing and bad luck, really, in New York."

Top seed Simona Halep was a popular pre-tournament pick to win Roland Garros, and it's understandable why given her 15-match win streak. But Amanda Anisimova might have something to say about that if the Romanian advances later today after the American defeated the 2018 winner in the quarterfinals a year ago.

Moved last-minute to Chatrier, Anisimova needed just 57 minutes to overwhelm countrywoman Bernarda Pera. The left-hander actually broke to start the match, and held two game points for a chance to consolidate. That didn't happen and Anisimova would take complete control in winning 58 percent of her return points.

In another match full of stars and stripes, 20-year-old Sebastian Korda knocked out top-ranked American John Isner, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Korda won 57 percent of his second serve points to Isner's 43 percent success rate en route to becoming the first man born in 2000 to reach the third round at the clay-court major.

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The 2015 men's winner dropped a set, but it hardly mattered in the end. Stan Wawrinka is safely through to the third round after getting past Dominik Koepfer, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Wawrinka, in the same 1/16th of the draw as two-time finalist Dominic Thiem, advanced to the quarterfinals last year. The 35-year-old is looking to reach the second week in Paris for the ninth time in 11 years.

American Taylor Fritz achieved his best result at Roland Garros by brushing aside Radu Albot, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Fritz dictated from start to finish, firing 41 winners to 28 unforced errors in the process.

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Before the tournament began, many anticipated a potential round-of-16 showdown between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. Neither, as it would turn out, would get to that stage.

After Williams withdrew prior to her second-round match with an Achilles injury, Azarenka joined her in exiting the Paris major. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova dismissed the recent US Open finalist, 6-2, 6-2, to break open the second quarter of the draw that features Elina Svitolina, Elise Mertens and home hopeful Caroline Garcia among others. The Slovakian was not broken, saving five break points.

Schmiedlova, who also beat Venus Williams to snap a 12-match losing streak on the major stage, meets qualifier Nadia Podoroska next. The Argentine eliminated No. 23 seed Yulia Putintseva, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

Former Roland Garros finalist Sara Errani served for her first set against fifth seed Kiki Bertens at 6-5, but could not find her ball toss. Repeat catches lead to her second time violation, resulting in the loss of a point. Errani's struggles continued on the next point, and she finally gave up by throwing in an underarm serve, which Bertens appropriately countered with a drop shot winner. The Dutchwoman went on to break and claim the tiebreaker, 7-6 (5).

After being served a bagel in the second set, No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina recovered to hold off a stiff challenge from Renata Zarazua, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, in one hour and 35 minutes.

Stan Wawrinka has opened up a 6-3, 4-0 lead against Rome quarterfinalist Dominik Koepfer. Wawrinka triumphed at this event five years ago for his second of three majors.

Elsewhere, 10th seed Victoria Azarenka dropped her opening set to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-2. Schmiedlova, who topped Venus Williams in the first round, saved both break points she faced in taking a one-set lead. With Serena Williams out, their quarter has opened up tremendously.

Major title No. 24 will not happen for Serena Williams in Paris, as the American has withdrawn from her second-round match with Tsvetana Pironkova with an Achilles injury.

"I felt like I needed to walk with a limp. I had to focus on walking straight," she told press. "I think the Achilles is a real injury you don't want to play with."

About 4-6 weeks of recovery, added Serena, with two weeks of pure rest. She doesn't expect to play any more tournaments in 2020.

We will continue to update this as the story unfolds.

An all-American match between 2019 semifinalist Amanda Anisimova and Bernarda Pera will be moved to second on Chatrier as a result.

What a turnaround! Renata Zarazua has pushed No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina to a third set after hitting back with a dominant 6-0 performance in the second, breaking three times from 10 opportunities. Svitolina's forehand in particular, found the net often. She sprayed 16 unforced errors while finding just two winners.

Renata Zarazua settled in to get on the board, and got one break back with some nifty feel around the court. But Elina Svitolina stayed the course, breaking the Mexican for a third time to close out the opening set, 6-3. A relatively clean set for the No. 3 seed, which six winners and unforced errors apiece.

Play looks likely to begin around the rest of the grounds, with the tarps being pulled off.

The roof is closed on Chatrier for the first match between 2018 WTA Finals champion Svitolina and Zarazua, as rain has prevented any other matches from getting on. Svitolina has raced to a 3-0, double break lead in just 10 minutes.

Another day, another exciting lineup in Paris.

Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, third seed Elina Svitolina and 2015 men's champion Stan Wawrinka all take the court in the opening slate of second-round matches. In a US Open quarterfinal rematch, 23-time major champion Serena Williams aims to go two for two against Tsvetana Pironkova, while US Open winner Dominic Thiem looks to keep things rolling against qualifier Jack Sock, one of six American men taking the court Wednesday.

Down the line, 12-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal battles Mackenzie McDonald and 2018 women's titlist Simona Halep takes on countrywoman Irina-Camelia Begu. Alexander Zverev once again anchors the day's play on Court Philippe-Chatrier, with Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia and Jannik Sinner also featuring in a late batch of matches.

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