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Former champion Simona Halep revealed she suffered a panic attack in her French Open defeat to China’s Zheng Qinwen on Friday (AEST).
The distressed 19th-seeded Romanian slumped in her chair at the end of the first set and required the attention of the doctor.
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“It was just a panic attack. I didn’t know how to handle it, because I don’t have it often,” said the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon winner.
“I was leading the match. I was playing well. I lost it. I couldn’t focus.
“After the match, it was pretty tough. But now I’m good. I’m recovered, and I will learn from this episode. Nothing dangerous. The doctors checked everything. Everything was perfect.”
Zheng, just 19 and making her Paris debut, triumphed 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 and will face either 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko or France’s Alize Cornet for a place in the last 16.
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MEDVEDEV REVEALS WHAT TRULY FRIGHTENS HIM
As Daniil Medvedev eased into the French Open third round on Friday, the carefree world number two admitted Thursday not much scared him in life — except for spiders, and tarantulas in particular.
Medvedev, who made the quarter-finals in 2021, defeated Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, and goes on to face another Serb in Miomir Kecmanovic, the 28th seed, for a place in the last 16.
Having lost in the opening round on his first four trips to Roland Garros, Medvedev is increasingly learning to appreciate the clay-court Grand Slam — and even his phobia of spiders is abating, somewhat.
“I’m a little bit scared of spiders, but I need to say I was much more scared when I was 10 or 12,” he said.
“When you grow up you need to sometimes face your fears. I never saw a tarantula, so I think I’m going to be scared if I see one.”
TSITSIPAS IN YET ANOTHER FIVE-SET ROLLERCOASTER
Fourth seed and 2021 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas needed another epic performance to reach the French Open third round on Friday, beating world number 134 and qualifier Zdenek Kolar of the Czech Republic in four sets.
The Greek star saved four set points in the fourth set tie-breaker to beat Kolar 6-3, 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (9/7) in a little over four hours.
On Tuesday, Tsitsipas had to come back from two sets down to defeat Lorenzo Musetti in the first round.
Kolar, 25, was playing in his maiden Grand Slam having tried and failed 16 times to qualify.
Tsitsipas will face Sweden’s Mikael Ymer for a place in the last 16.
“He drove me crazy,” said Tsitsipas. “It was really frustrating because he got behind every ball.
“Mr Kolar did not make it easy.”
WORLD NO. 1 CONTINUES MIND-BLOWING WINNING RUN
World number one Iga Swiatek racked up her 30th successive victory on Thursday with a 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Alison Riske of the United States to reach the French Open third round.
Poland’s Swiatek, the 2020 champion in Paris, is on the best streak since Serena Williams’s 34-match winning run in 2013.
The 20-year-old will face Danka Kovinic of Montenegro for a place in the last 16.
Swiatek raced through the first set against 43rd-ranked Riske in just 21 minutes and was 3-0 up in the second before the American avoided a ‘double bagel’.
The Pole still managed to take her record of 6-0 sets in 2022 to a season-leading 15.
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