In a battle between experience and youth in the women’s quarterfinals at the French Open, experience won.
Ana Ivanovic and Lucie Safarova reached the semifinals at Roland Garros with straight-set victories over Elina Svitolina and Garbine Muguruza, respectively.
But people were talking about more than tennis on Tuesday.
A little over a week after a fan ran onto the court and attempted to take a selfie with Roger Federer in a worrying breach of security, the men’s quarterfinal between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kei Nishikori had to be stopped for about half an hour when a horizontal metal pane detached from a upper section of Philippe-Chatrier court in the extremely windy conditions and landed on spectators.
Fans in seats affected were evacuated and the area was cordoned off. The fans later returned to the section.
“A sheet of metal fell from the scoreboard onto members of the public, three of whom sustained minor injuries,” organizers said in a statement. “The area was secured … spectators have taken their places in the stands.”
Ivanovic improved to 7-0 against the 20-year-old Svitolina with a 6-3 6-2 victory, spoiling the Ukrainian’s outing in her maiden grand slam quarterfinal. Ivanovic, a former world No. 1 watched by German soccer star boyfriend Bastian Schweinsteiger, will compete in the semifinals of a major for the first time since 2008.
Safarova, meanwhile, progressed by topping the 21-year-old Muguruza 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to achieve a second grand slam semifinal after Wimbledon last year.
The second men’s quarterfinal Tuesday pitted Federer against fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
