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| A delighted Mattek-Sands claimed a big win against Li |
Roland Garros 2013 Day 5: Mattek-Sands fells Li
On a wet day in Paris a number of the big names were frustrated by the weather with matches left in limbo overnight and some never making it to court. But in between the heavy showers there were some quality performances.
Of the big guns in the Men's draw the one to progress on day five was the highest ranked with Novak Djokovic easing into round three with a sweeping 6-2 6-0 6-2 defeat of Argentina's Guido Pella.
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| Djokovic beat the rain and Pella to make round three |
The top seeded Serb will have his hands full in the last 32 as he takes on the 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov after the talented Bulgarian saw off 19 year-old French wild card Lucas Pouille.
The last time Djokovic and Dimitrov faced off in Madrid the underdog pulled off the big upset so Novak will be out for revenge.
In the women's draw Victoria Azarenka also beat the rain as she overcame the promising young German Annika Beck. The two-time Australian Open winner raced out to an initial 5-0 advantage in the first set but Beck got going from there and pegged Azarenka back to 4-5 before the third seed came through 6-4 6-3.
Sam Stosur and Jelena Jankovic set up possibly the match of the third round with straight sets wins over Kristina Mladenovic and Garbine Murguruza respectively. That promises to be a terrific battle at the weekend with the Serb keen to erase the memory of their 2010 semi-final which Stosur won easily 6-1 6-2.
2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova came through quietly with a 6-4 6-3 against Shaui Peng and is likely to face the winner of the Stosur vs Jankovic match in the last 16.
Marina Erakovic took out former semi-finalist and 16th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 2-6 6-4 but the major upset of the fifth day came on Court 1 as Bethanie Mattek-Sands took out former champion Li Na from a set down. (Sadly I haven't seen enough of the match to warrant a full report)
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| Mattek-Sands caused the biggest upset so far |
The pair faced off in the Stuttgart semi-finals earlier in the spring and Li came through a high quality match 6-4 6-3 at the end of a long week for the American who had come all the way through from qualifying.
This time Mattek-Sands was fresher but the 2011 winner made the stronger start by racing into a 4-0 lead before taking the first set 7-5.
But from there the unseeded American dominated with her more aggressive tennis paving the way to a 6-3 second set and building a 5-0 lead in the decider.
The sixth seeded Chinese No.1 showed some resilience to claim a couple of games but Mattek-Sands served out at the second time of asking to come through 5-7 6-3 6-2 and book a third round meeting with qualifier Paula Ormaechea.
The doubles events also got into full swing between the showers on day five and there was a very narrow defeat for British 10th seeds Colin Fleming and Jonny Marray as they went down 7-6(7-4) 6-7(3-7) 7-5 to Feliciano Lopez and Andre Sa.
The Spanish/Brazilian team served for the match at 5-3 in the second but the Brits struck back and when play resumed after a rain break at 3-3 in the second set tie-break they reeled off four straight points to level up.
But it was Lopez and Sa who gained the vital break of serve in the eleventh game of the decider and they served out for a very tight win.
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