French Open 2012: Day 8 Scores, Results and Recap

The eighth day of play at the 2012 French Open was not long enough. Two of the men's matches were delayed by darkness. 

Juan Martin Del Potro leads Tomas Berdych, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leads Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 3-6, 4-2. Play will resume on Monday. 

The winner of the Del Potro-Berdych match will face Roger Federer and the Tsonga-Wawrinka winner will go on to face Novak Djokovic. 

The women were able to get in all of their matches on Sunday, which didn't work out well for top-seeded Victoria Azarenka.

Azarenka Falls

Australian Open champ and world No. 1 Azarenka dug herself a hole early against 15th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova and couldn't recover; she lost, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Azarenka was clearly frustrated with her game.

In the second set, she slammed her racket after a point, and again took to a little racket abuse during a changeover. The second one earned her a warning from the chair umpire. She summed up her frustration with her game in this post-match quote captured by the Mirror: 

"

I don’t know even what to find ­positive in my performance. It was just not going for me.

"

Novak Struggles

The men's top seed also struggled on Sunday, but Novak Djokovic's outcome was much better than Azarenka's. Djokovic survived by beating Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

This was a grueling and well played match that took four hours and 18 minutes. It was an impressive comeback for Nole after he dropped the first two sets. 

Djokovic was not as accurate with his ground strokes, as we have all grown accustomed to seeing, in this one. While he was happy with the result, he clearly was not satisfied with his play. 

The official French Open website offered up this post-match quote from Djokovic. 

"

Well, it's one of those days where you don't feel just nothing is working, you know, really. My serve was well. But aside that, I could not get into the rhythm, you know. I was fighting, and I think because of the fight I won the match. 

"

Federer Finishes Strong

Like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer struggled early. However, he only dropped the first set. He followed that up by edging out a close second set and dominated the final two to defeat David Goffin 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

This was the third straight match that Federer has dropped a set. Despite his relative struggles, he is in good form. He is serving well, and as always, he is crushing his forehand. 

It is certainly no surprise that Federer advances to the quarters of this Grand Slam event. Check out this stat posted by Roland Garros.

"

Roger Federer is in the quarter final of a Grand Slam tournament for the 32nd consecutive !

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2012"

This is just amazing. For almost every other player on the circuit, qualifying for the quarters in just two straight Grand Slams is enough to celebrate. 

Results

Men

Novak Djokovic defeated Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3

Roger Federer defeated David Goffin 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4

Women

Dominika Cibulkova defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 7-6 (4)

Samantha Stosur defeated Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-4

Angelique Kerber defeated Petra Martic 6-3, 7-5

Sara Errani defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 7-5