French Open 2012: The Biggest Losers from Today's Epic Battles

The third round of the 2012 French Open was filled with a multitude of exciting matches and tense moments. 

Six-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal demolished Eduardo Schwank 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round. 

Nadal has looked like his usual dominant self on red clay thus far in Paris and has to be considered the favorite at this point. 

The women's No. 2 seed, Maria Sharpova, has been spectacular thus far. She has lost only five games in three matches and is playing at an extremely high level. 

In today's match, Sharapova dominated Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-1. She controlled the match from the first ball and completely outclassed her opponent. 

There is more to follow, however, as there are compelling story lines from top to bottom in both draws. 

Day 7 saw a past champion fall, another Grand Slam failure for an ex-world No. 1 and a player communicating with the crowd in a unique way. 

Francesca Schiavone

Italy's top-ranked player Francesca Schiavone lost to Varvara Lepchenko in three tight sets. 

Schiavone, who won the French Open in 2010 and was a finalist last year, must be very disappointed with this result.

Lepchenko currently holds the highest ranking of her career, at 59, although she was seeded 63rd for this event. Schiavone was seeded 14th and was the heavy favorite coming into the match. 

For Lepchenko, this year's French Open is by far her best run at a Grand Slam. Hopefully, this is something that the 26-year-old can build upon and she will continue to play at a high level. 

Schiavone will lose a significant number of ranking points due to her inability to match last year's finals result.

Schiavone couldn't have wished for a more manageable third round matchup, as 19th-seeded Jelena Jankovic was upset by Lepchenko.This is a match that Schiavone should have won, thus creating an opportunity for her to make another deep run at her most productive Grand Slam.

It should have been her facing off against fourth-seeded Petra Kviotva in the fourth round. Since she isn't,  Schiavone is one of the biggest losers from today's matches. 

Mikhail Youzhny

Mikhail Youzhny had a pretty rough go of it against David Ferrer on Day 7, as he lost 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.

At one point, Youzhny felt so bad about his level of play and how it was affecting the match that he apologized to the crowd.

He did so by writing "SORRi" into the clay during the match, which basically summed up how competitive this match was.

It was a "Sorri" display from Youzhny. But in his defense, Ferrer is among the worst opponents to face when you are having a bad day.

Ferrer is relentless from the baseline and unbelievably consistent. The crafty Spaniard forces his opponents to play a great match to beat him, and Youzhny couldn't muster that effort today. 

It is clear that Youzhny's time in the top 10 is behind him, as he was seeded 27th for this event. Hopefully, this match was just a case of an off day. It would be a shame to see Youzhny go down in a similar manner again. 

When a player only manages to win four games in a three-set match, they are assured to be on the list of the day's biggest losers, as Youzhny is here.  

Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki was the top seed at the Australian Open earlier this year, but she lost in the quarter-finals to Kim Clijsters. 

Entering the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, Wozniacki had slipped to ninth in the rankings. She had to be hoping that she could pick up some momentum in Paris and use it to make a good run this summer. 

Unfortunately for Wozniacki, she fell in the third round today to Kaia Kanepi  1-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Wozniacki showed some fight in her defeat, though. She was down a set and 5-3, but managed to bounce  back and win the second set. 

This loss proves that Wozniacki still has a long way to go if she hopes to win her first Grand Slam. A win against the 23rd-ranked Kanepi would have put Wozniacki into the fourth round against Arantxa Rus, where she would have been the heavy favorite. 

Winning matches like the one she lost today are critical in building a successful career as one of the world's elite players. Wozniacki's loss today helped to reinforce the point that she is not yet one of the elite women on the tour. 

Instead, Wozniacki will begin preparing for the grass season as the rest of the field fights for the French Open title. 

Milos Raonic

It took five sets to decide the third-round match between Milos Raonic and Juan Monaco, bu it ended with Monaco winning 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. 

Raonic held a two-set-to-one lead, so it was disappointing to see him lack the killer instinct that it would have taken to close out Monaco.

Hopefully, Raonic will grow from this experience and use it as motivation to continue to improve his game.

Monaco will face Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, which is more than a daunting task. Nadal will more than likely obliterate Monaco, and it would have been far more interesting to see Raonic face off with Nadal. 

This is the second time that Raonic has bowed out just before he would have faced Nadal. At last year's Wimbledon, Raonic was on the verge of playing Nadal until he was injured and forced to retire. 

The big-serving Canadian is playing with house money this summer because he missed most of last summer due to an injury that he suffered at last year's Wimbledon. 

So Raonic has almost no points to defend this summer, so his ranking should only continue to improve as long as he is able to stay healthy. 

Although Raonic should have closed out Monaco on Day 7, his future is still very bright.