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Reigning champion Halep stumbles into French Open round 3

Paris - Defending champion Simona Halep stuttered into the French Open third round, needing four match points to seal a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win over Poland's Magda Linette on Thursday.

Romanian third seed Halep looked in total control when 5-3 ahead in the second set, but saw three match points come and go as world number 87 Linette levelled at 5-5 before breaking again to force a decider.

Halep rediscovered her form to race into a 5-1 third-set lead, but she stumbled again at the finish line and was broken to love when serving for the match for a second time.

She finally booked a last-32 clash with either Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic or Ukrainian 27th seed Lesia Tsurenko with a break in the next game on her fourth match point.

Results from the fifth day of the French Open on Thursday (x denotes seeding):

Men

2nd round

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3

Salvatore Caruso (ITA) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x26) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4

Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Radu Albot (MDA) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2

Borna Coric (CRO x13) bt Lloyd Harris (RSA) 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2)

Fabio Fognini (ITA x9) bt Federico Del Bonis (ARG) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x18) bt Taylor Fritz (USA) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2

Dusan Lajovic (SRB x30) bt Elliot Benchetrit (FRA) 6-3, 6-3, 6-4

Alexander Zverev (GER x5) bt Mikael Ymer (SWE) 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3)

Dominic Thiem (AUT x4) bt Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-5

Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR x28) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 2-1 -- retired

Antoine Hoang (FRA) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x23) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5

Gael Monfils (FRA x14) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Karen Khachanov (RUS x10) bt Grégoire Barrère (FRA) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 7-5

Jordan Thompson (AUS) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3

Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG x8) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2

Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Diego Schwartzman (ARG x17) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5

Women

2nd round

Naomi Osaka (JPN x1) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Katerina Siniaková (CZE) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE x29) 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (8/10), 6-3

Anna Blinkova (RUS) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA x24) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4

Serena Williams (USA x10) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 6-3, 6-2

Andrea Petkovic (GER) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE x25) 4-6, 6-3, 8-6

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x8) bt Danielle Collins (USA) 7-5, 6-1

Simona Halep (ROM x3) bt Magda Linette (POL) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

Mónica Puig (PUR) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS x21) 6-3, 6-1

Iga Swiatek (POL) bt Wang Qiang (CHN x16) 6-3, 6-0

Amanda Anisimova (USA) bt Aryna Sabalenka (BLR x11) 6-4, 6-2

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) bt Karolína Muchová (CZE) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4

Aliona Bolsova (ESP) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROM) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3)

Belinda Bencic (SUI x15) bt Laura Siegemund (GER) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

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