Day 4 Roundup: Halep exits from Roland Garros, China sees 1st win in mixed

All higher seeds in action on Wednesday but last year's women's singles runner-up Simona Halep entered the third round at Roland Garros, while China welcame a very first victory of this year's French Open in day 4 competitions.

The No. 3 seed Halep, the biggest casualty so far, bowed out 7-5, 6-1 to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, who also beat the Romanian in last year's U.S. Open.

"I couldn't play my best today. But, you know, she started to hit the ball very strong at the beginning of the match. She was better than me today," Halep told a post-match press conference.

"It's not about the pressure. Just, I couldn't feel the game. I don't feel like 100% the ball, the game," she added.

With the victory, Lucic-Baroni, who made Roland Garros debut in 1999 as a 17 years old, reached the third round for the first time since 2001.

"It doesn't get better than this," said the Croatian ranked 70th in the world. "Moments like this, like today, it's just so amazing - a full court playing against one of the best tennis players in the world and winning."

She hadn't contest a grand slam for eight years since falling victim to an abusive father and other family and financial problems, but made a comeback in 2010.

The veteran will next face local hope Alize Cornet, the 29th seed who beat Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 7-5 on Wednesday.

Russian titleholder Maria Sharapova made the last 32 on day 4 after ousting compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko 6-3, 6-1, while seventh-seeded former champion Ana Ivanovic battled back to beat Misaki Doi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

There're also wins for Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova and Spanish eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro, while Australian Samantha Stosur, the 2010 runner-up, advanced with a 6-0, 6-1 pummelling of French qualifier Amandine Hesse.

In the men's singles play, Roger Federer saw off Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in a Court Suzanne Lenglen showdown, at the same time when Japanese Kei Nishikori took center stage on Court Phillipe Chatrier to beat Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

It has been only the second time for Nishikori to reach the third round at Roland Garros. The 25-year-old, coached by the 1989 champion Michael Chang, became the first Asian male to reach a grand slam final at last year's U.S. Open.

"I have a lot of confidence on clay right now, so I hope I can do well here, because I haven't done so well before," he told reporters after Wednesday's match.

Fourth seed Tomas Berdych, who could play Nishikori in the quarterfinals, ousted 36-year-old fellow Czech Radek Stepanek in four sets, while No. 8 seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Serbian Dusan Lajovic, as five Frenchmen reached the last 32 and Alize Cornet progressed in the women's draw.

Chinese star Zheng Jie partnered with Fin Henri Kontine to win over French wild card Clothilde de Bernardi and Maxime Hamou 6-2, 6-3 in a first round match of mixed doubles.

It has been the very first victory from a Chinese player since four female players featured in the singles main draw but all exited from the first round.

Later on, two more Chinese followed Zheng's step, as Xu Yifan claimed a women's doubles victory alongside with Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas and Zheng Saisai won in straight sets partnering Varvara Lepchenko of the United States. Endi