FRENCH OPEN
Venue: Roland Garros Date: 24 May - 7 June
Coverage: Live on BBC Red Button, live streaming and daily text commentary on BBC Sport website, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live plus second week commentary on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. TV coverage on Eurosport.
Williams looked erratic and bereft of confidence throughout her defeat
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Third seed Venus Williams became the first big name to exit the French Open after a 6-0 6-4 defeat by Agnes Szavay.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, has now fallen at the third round in each of the last three years.
Szavay, the 29th seed from Hungary, stormed through the first set and then outplayed Williams in the second to set up a meeting with Dominika Cibulkova.
Top seed Dinara Safina beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-0 and Ana Ivanovic overcame Iveta Benesova 6-0 6-2.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Williams was inferior to Szavay in every department and missed the opportunity to face 20th seed Cibulkova, who overcame Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-2, for a place in the quarter-final.
Szavay wrapped up the first set in just 30 minutes - yanking the 2002 runner-up from side to side and illustrating her impressive footwork at the net.
Williams gave herself a glimmer of hope by breaking the Hungarian's serve to lead 4-3 in the second set but, with the gusting wind playing havoc with her service throw-up, she lost the next three games and saw her hopes of a first title at Roland Garros ended for another year.
I feel fit and ready to handle any kind of opponent - my game is coming back and I feel more comfortable, these kind of matches help for the tough matches ahead in the second week
Ana Ivanovic
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Defending champion Ivanovic is still yet to drop a set at this year's Roland Garros and has reached round four, where she will play either Victoria Azarenka or Carla Suarez Navarro, for the third successive year.
The eighth seed has conceded only five games since her hard-fought victory over Italy's Sara Errani in round one.
She continues to wear protective strapping on the front of her right knee but showed no signs of injury as she battled through game one and then broke Bensova in games two, four and six.
Ivanovic clinched the set at the first time of asking when her opponent sent a backhand long.
The pair traded early breaks in the second set but Ivanovic made the move in game six, grabbing her fifth break of the match to for 4-2 up and close in on victory.
After holding serve for 5-2, she moved to match point with a wonderful sliced drop-shot and clinched the win with an unreturnable forehand.
"The score doesn't indicate how hard I had to work for some points," said the Serb. "She started playing much, much better in the second set and started hitting the ball much heavier.
"I just played really good and stayed in the moment and did what I had to do out there.
"I feel fit and ready to handle any kind of opponent. My game is coming back and I feel more comfortable. These kind of matches help for the tough matches ahead in the second week."
606: DEBATE
shivfan
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France's Aravane Rezai reached the fourth round for the first time with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 triumph over 16-year-old Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito.
The match was not without controversy, however, as Rezai demanded the umpire intervene when her opponent's screaming reached ear-piercing volumes.
"It's very disturbing, it's disturbing me," she told him before insisting he consult the Grand Slam supervisor on the issue. "Please, there is a limit, enough."
De Brito did not just shriek as she hit the ball but also when Rezai sent shots long. She annoyed the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd further by slamming her racket into the ground after losing some points.
The world number 132 could be seen applauding the crowd in a sarcastic manner as she was booed off court.
"I can do nothing about it (my screaming)," De Brito, making her, Grand Slam debut, protested during the match.
Asked about it earlier in the week she said: "It's just something I've done always since I started playing tennis. I'm going to keep on doing it, because it's really part of my game.
"I don't mind if people think it's bad or not. I just keep on doing it."
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