Federer advances to 4th round at French Open

PARIS: Roger Federer needed four sets to make it through to the fourth round of the French Open on Friday, beating Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4.

Federer, who had won his opening two matches in straight sets, converted only four of his 21 break-point opportunities against the 31st-seeded Russian.

Shortly after winning the second-set tiebreaker, Tursunov appeared to have a minor meltdown while trailing 2-1 in the third.

He argued with the chair umpire and took a medical timeout. He left the court for several minutes, leaving Federer to practice some serves while awaiting his opponent´s return.

Federer is trying to win the title at Roland Garros for the second time. He is the 2009 champion, but lost in the quarterfinals last year. (AP)

Kuznetsova advances to third round in French Open

Former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia advanced to the third round by beating Camila Giorgi of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Kuznetsova, seeded 27th, broke Giorgi´s serve four times and next faces either fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova or Marina Erakovic, who were playing later Thursday.Sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and 15th-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States also advanced in straight sets.

Jankovic won 7-5, 6-0 against Japan´s Kurumi Nara and Stephens won 6-1, 6-3 against Slovenia´s Polona Hercog.

Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands was leading 5-7, 6-4, 3-0 against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when the Russian retired, and in Israel´s Julia Glushko won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 against No. 21 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.Bertens next plays Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa, who downed Belgium´s Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-4. (AP)