Arantxa Rus has failed to reach the second round of Roland Garros. The Dutch was eliminated late on Monday evening after a marathon match by nineteen-year-old French talent Clara Burel: 7-6 (7), 6-7 (2) and 3-6.
Because the rain had messed up the schedule earlier in the day, the game started much later than planned. When Burel used her first match point after 2 hours and 57 minutes, it was already after midnight.
For the 29-year-old Russian, her sixth participation in Roland Garros comes to a quick end. In 2012 she achieved her greatest success at a Grand Slam in Paris. She then made it to the fourth round, in which the Estonian Kaia Kanepi was just too strong.
Rus started the match against Burel as a favorite on the basis of the world ranking. The Dutch is 67th, while the French is only the number 415. As the former number one in the world for juniors, nineteen-year-old Burel is considered to be a great talent.
Due to the elimination of Russian, Kiki Bertens is the only Dutch who is still active in singles. The number five of the placement list won on Monday in three sets against Katarina Zavatska from Ukraine.
Rus does not press on after winning the first set
Although Rus has much more experience playing Grand Slams, she started the match roughly on one of the illuminated outdoor courts. Only after she had come behind a double break (2-5) did she straighten her back and thus dragged another tiebreak out of the fire, which was won 9-7.
When Rus immediately took a break in the second set, a victory seemed to be in the making, but after a total of eight breaks, another tiebreaker had to offer a solution. This time Burel won the prize.
In the third set it went up to 3-3, but after that it was Russian who seemed to have her nerves the least under control. When she turned in her service for the third time in a row at 3-5, the curtain fell after almost three hours of play.
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