Garbine Muguruza's defence of her French Open tennis title ended in tears when she broke down in the post match interview following her fourth-round loss to Kristina Mladenovic.
Garbine Muguruza of Spain reacts during the match against Kristina Mladenovic of France in their 4th round match at the French Open. Photo: AFP
The 23-year-old Muguruza had been complaining about the vocal and fiercely partisan crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen during her match against France's Mladenovic when she was overcome by emotion.
"I think the crowd today was a little bit obviously tough for me. I understand. I just think that they were a little bit, sometimes should be a little bit more respectful," the 2016 champion told the gathered journalists.
"I'm not here to create enemies. I mean, I love playing here."
A couple of questions later, as tears rolled down Muguruza's cheeks and she bowed her head, the moderator interrupted the news conference after asking the Spaniard if she needed a break.
Muguruza, who lost 6-1 3-6 6-3, came back after a minute and said she would take any question.
"We're here for the good and for the bad," she explained. "I love this tournament, no matter what happens."
Asked again about the French crowd's behaviour, she said: "If you had been in my shoes on the court, I think you would have understood. I don't know what people were expecting. I'd rather not say anything more."
Muguruza, however, said she was relieved her tournament was over, having had to cope with the immense pressure of defending the title in Paris.
"It's going to sound weird but I'm actually happy that this stage of the year is done because I wanted to go as far as possible," she said.
"But even if I didn't, I think I'm going to feel much better now to continue the year and everybody is going to stop bothering me asking me about this tournament, so it's going to be a little bit like, 'Whew, let's keep going'."
Williams exits
Venus Williams' chances of adding a first French Open title to her collection of seven grand slams faded after the 36-year-old was beaten 5-7 6-2 6-1 by Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in the fourth round.
Williams, seeded 10th and competing in her 20th French Open, fought back from 5-1 down rattling off six straight games to win the first set.
But she ran out of steam as the 27-year-old Bacsinszky, who had wasted two set points in the first set, chased her across the court and won the next two with ease, clinching the match with a perfect drop shot.
It was the second year running that Williams lost to the Swiss in the Roland Garros fourth round.
The Swiss, now guaranteed to be the only player to have reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2015, 2016 and 2017, will face local favourite Kristina Mladenovic in the last eight.
Meanwhile, Croatia's Petra Martic will face women's fifth seed Elina Svitolina in the fourth round after beating 17th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-1 6-1.
Women's 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki beat eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-1 4-6 6-2 in the fourth round.
Women's second seed Karolina Pliskova beat Germany's Carina Witthoeft 7-5 6-1 to advance to the round of 16.
And Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko beat Australian Samantha Stosur 2-6 6-2 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
- Reuters
