Glushko’s hopes demolished at French Open by Errani

Julia Glushko’s unlikely run at Roland Garros came to a grinding halt in the third round on Saturday following a 6-0, 6-1 loss at the hands of world No. 11 Sara Errani.

By ALLON SINAI
Julia Glushko of Israel returns to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium during their second-round singles match yesterday at the French Open in Paris. Glushko matched her longest run at a Grand Slam by advancing with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Julia Glushko of Israel returns to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium during their second-round singles match yesterday at the French Open in Paris. Glushko matched her longest run at a Grand Slam by advancing with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Julia Glushko’s unlikely run at Roland Garros came to a grinding halt in the third round on Saturday following a 6-0, 6-1 loss at the hands of world No. 11 Sara Errani.
The 24-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 98 in the world, was thoroughly outplayed by the Italian and was sent packing after just 52 minutes.
Glushko never quite found her footing against Errani, who reached the French Open final in 2012 and the semis last year, committing 30 unforced errors to the Italian’s seven.
Despite the humbling defeat, Glushko will take plenty of positives away from her performance in Paris over the past week. She entered Roland Garros without a single WTA Tour main draw victory in 2014, claiming just two wins this year over players ranked in the world’s top 200. However, she went on to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for just the second time in her career with two impressive victories, upsetting world No. 22 Kirsten Flipkens in the second round after beating rising star Donna Vekic (67) in the first.
“I had a good tournament with two excellent wins,” said Glushko, who is set to climb around 15 places in the world rankings and leapfrog Shahar Pe’er to become Israel’s No. 1 player. “I was focused and followed my tactics against Errani, but I was facing a very tough opponent who didn’t miss a ball and played amazingly.”
Glushko’s coach Asaf Ingber believes Saturday’s defeat will only help her become a better player.
“We consider this defeat a learning experience,” he said.
“We will have to continue and work hard in order to realize Glushko’s goal of breaking into the world’s top 50.”
Also Saturday, Yoni Erlich and Marcelo Melo were knocked out in the third round of the doubles tournament in Paris. The Israeli/Brazilian duo dropped to a 6-4, 7-6 (5) defeat to No. 9 seeds Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt.