Roland-Garros Day 5 women’s recap: Top seed Barty retires, Swiatek rolls, Pliskova out

• Notable names winning on Thursday at Roland-Garros (2nd round): Sofia Kenin (4), Elina Svitolina (5), Iga Swiatek (8), Jennifer Brady (13), Elise Mertens (14), Maria Sakkari (17), Karolina Muchova (18), Coco Gauff (24), Ons Jabeur (25), Jessica Pegula (28), Anett Kontaveit (30)
• Notable names losing on Thursday (2nd round): Ashleigh Barty (1), Karolina Pliskova (9), Ekaterina Alexandrova (32)
• To read about Wednesday women’s coverage including wins by Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, and the exit of Belinda Bencic, you can click here
• To follow our full coverage of the 2021 French Open, please visit this page.
• To follow live results, to see the men’s draw and women’s draw, we recommend you follow the official Roland Garros website
• You can also check out the Tennis Majors team’s breakdown of the men’s and women’s draw
• Tomorrow’s programme at Roland-Garros will be updated here (and by the way, today’s schedule is here).
• All the practical information – how to watch the tournament, how to buy tickets and everything else you could possibly need to know – are hopefully in this page.

TOP SEED BARTY RETIRES IN SECOND SET

Top seed Ashleigh Barty’s Roland-Garros campaign came to an end after the Australian was forced to retire during the second set of her second round match against Magda Linette on Thursday.

After losing the first set 6-1, Barty went off the court for a medical time out. She returned and soldiered on for four more game but at 2-2, she decided to call it a day.

Explaining that she had suffered an acute injury over the weekend that she had been unable to recover from, she described it as “heartbreaking”, adding that it was “brutal and tough to accept”.

SWIATEK’S TITLE DEFENSE CONTINUES

Defending champion and No 8 seed Iga Swiatek thrashed Rebecca Peterson 6-1, 6-1 in one hour and two minutes.

“Obviously the score says that it was pretty easy,” Swiatek said. “It wasn’t because she was playing really nice balls with good rhythm. But actually, from the beginning, I felt like I had a good day today since I woke up, so I knew that I’m going to be in the right mood. I just kept that. When I was on the court I just felt the ball perfectly; I felt like I could do anything with it. So I’m pretty happy that I had this — this attitude right now.”

Swiatek awaits Anett Kontaveit in the round of 32.

WINS FOR KENIN AND GAUFF

Fourth seed Sofia Kenin played her compatriot Hailey Baptiste and had to work hard for her 7-5, 6-3 victory. The former Australian Open champion is seeking to go one better than she managed at last autumn’s edition in Paris, when she made the final but lost to Iga Swiatek.

She will be joined in the third round by Coco Gauff, who came through a tricky match with Wang Qiang, 6-3, 7-6(1).

And Jennifer Brady overcame a valiant Fiona Ferro 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

SVITOLINA SAILS THROUGH

Fifth seed Elina Svitolina enjoyed a straight-sets victory against the USA’s Ann Li, 6-0, 6-4. Despite that first-set bagel, the American put up a fight in the second, taking a 4-1 lead – but the Ukrainian won five games on the bounce to move on.

With both the top seeds out of the women’s draw now, it is surely opening up a little bit for Svitolina, still chasing her maiden Slam.

“When I come here, I always have good memories,” she said afterwards. “I try to put tough battles aside and only look for positives, at in the end I really enjoy the crowd. I really enjoy the courts here. I’ve been playing Chatrier, my first match, and the second one Lenglen, so it’s amazing to have this amazing chance to play in the best courts here at Roland-Garros and get the wins, as well.”

PLISKOVA FALLS

Karolina Pliskova, seeded ninth, fell to the unseeded former US Open champion Sloane Stephens. The American won 7-5, 6-1, and her opponent paid tribute to her afterwards, saying: “I knew it was going to be super difficult and dangerous. She played a final here.”

ONS MOVES ON

It was a straightforward morning for Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, the 25th seed, who beat Astra Sharma of Australia 6-2, 6-4.

” I’m pretty happy with my performance,” she said afterwards. “It was kind of tight at the end, but I’m glad that I got the win.

“I’m glad that I played the way I played today. I’m on my way for the second week, and I’m trying to get better each game. It’s going pretty well for right now. Hopefully it gets better for the next match.”

She is looking to better her result here last year, her best-ever in Paris, when she reached the fourth round.

OTHER RESULTS

• Elise Mertens, seeded 14th, needed three sets to get past Zarina Diyas, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
• Greece’s Maria Sakkari, the 17th seed, beat Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-2, 6-3.
• The USA’s Jessica Pegula, the 28th seed, beat Tereza Martincova 6-3, 6-3.
• Another American was dismissed on Court 16 as 18th seed Karolina Muchova beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-4.
• Another seed was knocked out as Barbora Krejcikova beat 32nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-3.
• Marta Kostyuk, who beat Garbine Muguruza in the first round, defeated Zheng Saisai, 6-3, 6-4.
• Varvara Gracheva beat Camila Giorgi 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.
• Elena Vesnina progressed to the third round as Petra Kvitova had been forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury.
• No 30 Anett Kontaveit crushed Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-0 in 51 minutes