Tsitsipas into French Open's 3rd round after slugfest against Kolar

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - The No. 4 seed in men's singles, Stefanos Tsitsipas, qualified Thursday for the third round of the 2022 French Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris after a tough battle against Zdenek Kolar.

Greek star Tsitsipas, 23, beat world No.134 Kolar of Czech Republic with sets of 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (9-7) in an epic match that lasted at least four hours at Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the stadium’s second biggest court.

The 2021 French Open runner-up, Tsitsipas will face Sweden's Mikael Ymer in the third round.​​​​​​​

World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev booked his place at the French Open's third round after a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win against Serbia's Laslo Djere.

Medvedev will meet another Serbian player, Miomir Kecmanovic, in the upcoming phase.

- Former champion Halep eliminated

In women's singles, a former French Open champion, Simona Halep, was eliminated by 19-year-old Qinwen Zheng from China.

Romania's Halep, 30, won the first set 6-2 at Court Simonne-Mathieu, but Zheng came back from a 1-0 deficit to stun the 2018 champion.

Zheng reserved her place in the next round after winning the rest of the match with sets of 6-2, 6-1.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Halep returned home.

Zheng will play against France's Alize Cornet in the third round.

Cornet, 32, eliminated Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.

Ostapenko was the 2017 Roland Garros champion.

Women's top-seed Iga Swiatek beat her US opponent Alison Riske with sets of 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the third round.

In the next match, 20-year-old Polish star Swiatek will take on Montenegro's Danka Kovinic for a last 16 berth.