French Barbarians outplay Brave Blossoms

Eddie Jones' Japan rugby squad went down 40-21 at the hands of the French Barbarians despite a second-half surge from the Asian champions on Wednesday.

Coming off three defeats to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa at the Pacific Nations Cup on home soil, Rugby World Cup winner Jones fielded an experimental side which did not respond much to the Barbarians in the first half.

The visitors sat pretty on a 32-7 lead at the break, reaching the scoreboard in just the second minute as Benjamin Lapeyre crossed for his first time of the evening.

The Barbarians piled up the points with three more tries by Lapeyre, Thierry Lacrampe and Marvin O'Connor while Camille Lopez was successful on three of the four conversions.

Lopez and Lapeyre also each added a penalty.

Japan did not have an answer until the 33rd minute when Kosei Ono pulled back a try with Yu Tamura converting before the teams headed into the tunnel.

The Brave Blossoms off to a fast start in the second half, Tamura touching down in the 42nd minute before scoring the conversion himself.

Kobe Steel veteran Shoji Ito further closed the gap eight minutes past the hour with a five-pointer, and Ayumu Goromaru came off the bench to make it a 32-21 contest.

But Japan turned over the ball a few times too often as the Barbarians, who padded out their lead with a late Pierre Bernard penalty and a try by Julien Arias, held on for victory.

The two sides meet again on Sunday also at Prince Chichibu Stadium.

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Sharapova stumbles through at French Open; Li crashes out

Ave Maria: Maria Sharapova hits a shot during her 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 win over Klara Zakopalova in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday. AP

PARIS — On days like these, when so little goes right and so much goes awry, Maria Sharapova tosses away the strategies and scouting reports her coach devises and, well, does whatever it takes to win.

Locked in a three-set, 3-hour struggle at a wet and windy French Open on Monday, Sharapova's right, racket-swinging wrist was aching — and that, she insisted, was the least of her problems.

There was the tumble to her backside that Sharapova could laugh about later. The exasperating line calls, and what the second-seeded Russian considered an obstinate chair umpire. The 12 double-faults, plus 41 other errors of Sharapova's own doing. The nine breaks she allowed, including three while serving for the match. The unseeded foe who wouldn't go away.

"It was," Sharapova summed up, "a good test for me."

Certainly the first she's faced at Roland Garros this year. After dropping a total of five games in three matches that averaged less than an hour each, Sharapova moved into the quarterfinals at the only Grand Slam tournament she hasn't won by dispensing with tactics and swinging away until she finally pulled out a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 victory over 44th-ranked Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.

"I'm useless with game plans. That's probably the one thing (coach Thomas Hogstedt) just gets so frustrated with me about," Sharapova said. "I go out there and I do my own thing, and then he's like, after the match, 'Really? What's the point? I mean, what's the point of having me?' But I apologized when I hired him, in advance, so he's OK."

Hogstedt's take?

"It's good we have a day off tomorrow so we can step it up again," he said. "This was clearly a match where she was not playing as well as she should."

Sharapova and Hogstedt both said her wrist, which she repeatedly flexed during the match and fiddled with at her news conference afterward, shouldn't be an issue. Something else that might not be? The opposition. It seems that nearly every day a potential roadblock is swept out of the draw, from Serena Williams, to Francesca Schiavone, to Li Na.

Indeed, Sharapova now has one thing in common with every woman left: None has won the French Open.

Her next opponent, No. 23 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, hasn't been beyond the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament but got to that round for the fourth time by defeating unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.

Asked whether she thinks she can beat three-time major champion Sharapova, Kanepi replied: "If I play well, of course. Why not?"

Defending champion Li's surprising exit came against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, an eyeglasses-wearing doubles specialist ranked 142nd in singles who needed to go through qualifying rounds to enter the main draw.

"I have to find the reason why I lost the match," said Li, China's only Grand Slam singles champion. "I will find out. But not today."

Rafael Nadal's pursuit of a record seventh French Open title rolled on with another rout, this one a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 victory over his pal, Juan Monaco of Argentina, who's not exactly a slouch — he was seeded 13th and has won five clay-court titles.

But Nadal is 49-1 for his career at the French Open and might be better than ever. He's lost a total of 19 games so far, the fewest through four completed matches at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas' 16 games in 1982.

"I feel really comfortable, really at ease," Nadal said. "When the tournament is over, I'll tell you if this was my best Roland Garros or not. For the time being, I'm still playing. So far, so good. But we'll see. Things could change."

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Venus follows sister out of French Open after loss to Radwanska

Out of reach: Venus Williams hits a return to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska on her way to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday. AFP-JIJI

PARIS — Used to be that Venus Williams was the one who was highly ranked, the one considered a title contender, the one who would dominate foes so thoroughly that matches would be tidily wrapped up in an hour.

Now 31, and figuring out from day to day how to handle an illness that saps her strength, Williams was on the wrong end of a lopsided 60-minute defeat in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.

Looking glum and lacking the verve that carried her to seven Grand Slam titles, Williams barely put up any resistance and lost 6-2, 6-3 to No. 3-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland at Roland Garros. Coming a day after her younger sister Serena was stunned in the first round by 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France, the early exit marked the first time in 43 major tournaments with both in the field that neither Williams got to the third round.

"I felt like I played," Williams said after making a hard-to-fathom 33 unforced errors, 27 more than Radwanska. "That pretty much sums it up."

This one was not exactly an out-of-nowhere upset, considering that Williams is ranked 53rd now, never has been as good on clay as on other surfaces, lost to Radwanska 6-4, 6-1 two months ago, and is learning how to be a professional athlete with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.

Still, the meek way Williams departed was striking, considering that she has been ranked No. 1, has appeared in 14 major finals to Radwanska's zero, and from 2008-10 won 10 of the 11 sets the two played against each other.

"I don't know if I ever asked myself, 'Why me?' I mean, obviously it's frustrating at times. I don't know if there's anything mental more I can do at this point, but there's a lot of stages to go through with this kind of thing," said Williams.

"There's a lot of people who have it a lot worse than I do. I'm still playing a professional sport, so I have to be very positive. And I'm going to have ups and downs. I haven't gotten to the 'Why me?' yet. I hope I never get to the 'Why me?' I'm not allowed to feel sorry for myself."

While never advancing past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament, Radwanska has shown signs of being ready for a major breakthrough, with three lesser titles and a tour-high 38 victories in 2012. Of her seven losses, six were against No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka.

"Of course, when I saw the draw, I wasn't very happy, because Venus as a second-round opponent, it's not easy," Radwanska said. "Maybe she just had a bad day here."

On an easy day for the top-seeded players, Azarenka breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-1, 6-1, while the No. 1 man, Novak Djokovic, extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 23 matches by beating Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-0, 6-4, 6-4.

Also Roger Federer managed to make things look easy at the top. Now No. 3, he went through a bit of a glitch and dropped a set before earning his record-breaking 234th Grand Slam match victory, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 against 92nd-ranked Adrian Ungur of Romania.

With the win, the 16-time Grand Slam champion broke a record he shared with Jimmy Connors for most career victories at major tournaments in the Open era, which began in 1968.

But he was less than his dominant self, wasting two match points in the third set before losing the tiebreaker.

"Instead of being aggressive, I let him show me what he could do," Federer said. "He played two beautiful shots, and then I started not playing very well."

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Nishikori pulls out of French Open

PARIS — Kei Nishikori pulled out of the French Open on Tuesday having failed to recover from a stomach injury, the world No. 18 revealed on his Facebook page.

The 22-year-old made history earlier this year when he became the first Japanese man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals, but his preparations for Paris were effected by the injury he suffered in Barcelona in April.

He was subsequently forced to skip the Madrid and Rome Masters.

"I am very disappointed that I won't be able to play in Paris this year," said Nishikori.

"Following the last Grand Slam, I was looking forward to playing in the second Grand Slam of the year. I will continue my rehab and plan to be back on the Tour as early as I can."

Nishikori is the second top 20 player to pull out of the French Open after American No. 10 Mardy Fish opted not to play because of fatigue.

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Clijsters doubtful for French Open

BRUSSELS (AP) Kim Clijsters may miss next month's French Open after injuring her right ankle at her cousin's wedding.

A statement posted on the Belgian star's website Sunday said the injury would keep her out for at least four to six weeks.

"Since the French Open starts in literally six weeks, Kim's presence in Paris is very uncertain," the statement said.

The statement did not give details on how the injury occurred, but said that Clijsters — winner of the last two Grand Slam tournaments — had strained ligaments in her right ankle and tore an ankle joint capsule and tendon sheath.

"The consequences are serious," the statement said.

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