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Paris - The sun was shining again, spectators topped up their tans under clear blue skies but a cold chill circulated around Maria Sharapova as the holder was frozen out of the French Open in the fourth round on Monday.
A day after rain played havoc with the Roland Garros schedule, Sharapova's hopes of reaching a fourth successive final at the claycourt major was turned to dust by the dynamite forehand of Lucie Safarova, the Czech winning 7-6(3) 6-4.
Sharapova spent the changeovers coughing and spluttering into a tissue but the Russian second seed refused to blame health problems for her earliest exit at the French Open since 2010.
"I'm still a competitor no matter what. I'm going to do everything in order to go out and give it my best, and I think I did the best I could. Today it wasn't enough, because my opponent had a different gear than I did," the 2012 and 2014 French Open winner told reporters.
Sharapova was one of eight Grand Slam champions in action on day nine of Roland Garros and Roger Federer made sure he did not suffer the same fate as the Russian.
In the build-up to his showdown with French showman Gael Monfils, Federer tweeted a squiggly sketch of the Eiffel Tower.
While his attempt at drawing the famous Paris landmark would not look out of place in the sketch books of his five-year-old twins Charlene Riva and Myla Rose, what the Swiss produced on court was a masterpiece.
