No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova was upset in the French Open third round, ensuring that Naomi Osaka will remain No. 1 after the tournament.
Pliskova, the 2016 U.S. Open runner-up, fell 6-3, 6-3 to Croatian Petra Martic at Roland Garros on Friday.
She’s the fourth player from the top six to exit in the first week, along with No. 5 Angelique Kerber, plus Nos. 4 and 6 Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova, who withdrew for health reasons.
The bottom half of the draw opens up with No. 7 Sloane Stephens the highest remaining seed and a guaranteed first-time French Open semifinalist to come from Pliskova’s quarter. The top half still boasts Osaka, Serena Williams and defending champion Simona Halep.
Pliskova was bidding to return to No. 1 after previously holding the top spot for eight weeks in the summer of 2017.
Martic, 28, has never made it past the fourth round of a major. Friday marked her first win over a top-four player.
Stephens, the 2018 French Open runner-up, outlasted Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Friday. She gets 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the fourth round. Muguruza took out No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3.
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