French Open 2017: Defending champion Garbine Muguruza & Venus Williams out

Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Bacsinszky meet in the quarterfinals of the 2017 French Open.

To be sure, Williams’ disappointment stems from the wide-open field at the French Open in light of the absence of the usual suspects.

Defending French Open champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain broke down in her postmatch news conference after being knocked out of the tournament in the round of 16, but gamely returned after a brief break.

But she added: “I’m not here to create enemies”.

Muguruza said she felt the crowd lacked respect at times.

Forced off the tour with a variety of ailments, the 26-year-old battled through three qualifying matches just to make her first grand slam main draw in two years.

Mladenovic overcame her struggles on serve to eliminate Muguruza 6-1 3-6 6-3 despite making an astonishing 16 double faults, leaving last year’s victor complaining about the fiercely partisan crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

“The crowd today was a little bit tough on me, but I understand”.

Her coach, Sam Sumyk, reportedly called the crowd “pathetic” and said they had “no class”, but Mladenovic differed.

That’s because defending French Open champion Garbine Muguruza and seven-time Grand Slam victor Venus Williams were eliminated Sunday.

“But when you go out there, this is something I don’t want to think about and just fight with everything I have”.

– Fourth seed Rafa Nadal marched into the quarter-finals with a regulation 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory over fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.

A new Grand Slam victor is set to emerge at the tournament as none of the women’s players remaining made that.

Mladenovic could have company in the quarterfinals, though: Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia plays her fourth-round match Monday. It was the second year in a row Bacsinszky beat the No. 10 seed Williams in the fourth round in Paris.

Williams, who turns 37 this month, earned all of those titles at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open.

Bacsinszky’s best Grand Slam performance came when she reached the last four at Roland Garros in 2015, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal ( above ) and title-holder Novak Djokovic surged into the French Open quarter-finals for a record-equalling 11th time on Sunday, but reigning women’s champion Garbine Muguruza crashed out in the last 16.

Fifth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina continued her hot streak by defeating Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-5.

Bacsinszky didn’t want to let up and must have kept the memory in her head of beating Williams previous year at exactly this time in the 4th round of the French.

It is often hard to read Muguruza but her press conference at Roland Garros on Sunday allowed us for a few moments to get a look at the real person inside of her.

Muguruza briefly left the room after starting to cry when asked about Mladenovic’s regular outbursts at key points, but the fourth seed later claimed to be unperturbed by her opponent’s behaviour.

No Replies to “Pressure tells as Mladenovic ends Roland Garros title defence for tearful Muguruza.” I’ve always played in front of a full Suzanne-Lenglen Court but right now it’s packed to the rafters.

6 – top-five wins Mladenovic now owns against seven losses.