PARIS (REUTERS) - Twice Grand Slam champion Viktoria Azarenka slumped out of the French Open after Swiss 23rd seed Jil Teichmann battled from a set down to win 4-6 7-5 7-6(5) and secure a spot in the fourth round on Friday (May 27).
The Belarusian 32-year-old former world number one, seeded 15th in Paris, powered from 3-0 down at the start of the first set and then again from 4-3 behind to win the next three straight games to secure the opening set.
Azarenka looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory when she broke Teichmann to go 4-2 up in the second with her powerful baseline play and continuous drop shots dictating the game.
But in a reversal of the opening set, it was the 24-year-old Swiss left-hander's turn to battle back, mixing it up and clinching five of the next six games to force a decider.
Teichmann kept up the pressure and, after the pair traded two breaks each, won the tiebreak following more than three hours to reach a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time.
Another player to reach the French Open fourth round for the first time was US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who edged Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 7-5 3-6 7-5, after a see-saw battle.
Fernandez, 19, saved two set points before winning the marathon first set in 62 minutes and had to rally from an early break down in the decider against the Swiss.
"It was an incredible fight," the 17th seed, who faces American Amanda Anisimova for a last-eight spot, told reporters.
"I think today I was just trusting my game when it mattered the most, and I'm just glad that I was able to trust it enough for me to keep going and keep executing the game plan."
The 14th-seeded Bencic, who won the women's singles gold in Tokyo, hit more winners and committed fewer unforced errors than her opponent in the opening match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
But Fernandez raised her level when it mattered most and, after breaking serve in the 11th game of the decider, held her serve to love to seal the contest in two hours 49 minutes.
The Canadian managed to win a WTA 250 title in Monterrey, Mexico, at the beginning of March but her ride since making the US Open final, where she was beaten by Britain's Emma Raducanu, has been rocked and marked by numerous defeats.
"I have lost a lot of matches to get here," she said.
"So I think every match, what's good about my team and I, we were able to use it as a learning experience to see where I can improve and what I'm doing good too.
"It's just the ability to keep learning from every match that we have that helps put me in a position where I can say that I'll just need to trust my game and just fight for every point."
