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May 31 (UPI) -- Anna Blinkova upset Carolina Garcia, eliminating the first Top 5 women's tennis player from the 2023 French Open on Wednesday in Paris. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas were among the top men to advance. Blinkova, ranked No. 56, converted 5 of 10 break points in the 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over the French foe on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The Russian totaled just 30 unforced errors and 33 forced errors.
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Garcia, the No. 5 player in the WTA rankings, converted 4 of 18 break points and totaled 50 unforced errors and 46 forced errors.
"I am very happy," Blinkova said on the Tennis Channel broadcast. "Caroline is a great player and a great fighter, fighting until the end.
"It was crazy. It's a really important victory for me. I'll never forget this match."
Blinkova will meet Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (No. 192) in the third round. The winner will face No. 69 Peyton Stearns of the United States or No. 9 Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the fourth round.
Stearns upset No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in three sets in her second-round match. No. 333 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and No. 58 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan were among the other women to score upsets Wednesday at Roland Garros.
Putintseva beat No. 19 Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 15 Liudmila Samsonova of Russian 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States were the top women's players to advance with Wednesday wins. No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 6 Coco Gauff of the United States and No. 7 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia were among the top women's players to advance Tuesday with first-round wins.
On the men's side, Alcaraz beat Taro Daniel of Japan 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in a match that lasted nearly two and a half hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The Spaniard will meet No. 32 Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the third round. Shapovalov beat No. 106 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy in four sets in his second-round match.
Tsitsipas, of Greece, beat No. 57 Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain in straight sets in another Wednesday match. The No. 5 player in the ATP rankings will meet No. 95 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in the third round. Schwartzman beat No. 80 Nuno Borges of Portugal in straight sets in his second-round match.
Tsitsipas went up 6-3 in the first set of his victory. He then beat Carballes Baena in a tie break to claim the second set. He won the final set 6-2.
"I feel like my focus shifted to not that great of a place and things seemed tougher than usual," Tsitsipas told reporters, when asked about the second set. "That is part of the clay-court ideology. It's never really over and there is always a chance to fight back and survive it."
No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia will be among the top players in action later Wednesday. He will meet No. 83 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the second round.
No. 4 Casper Ruud of Norway, No. 6 Holger Rune of Denmark, No. 8 Taylor Fritz of the United States and No. 9 Jannik Sinner of Italy will be among the top men in action Thursday in Paris.
Swiatek, No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Gauff and Jabeur will be among the top women with second-round matches Thursday at Roland Garros.
Second-round coverage will air until 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday on Tennis Channel. Coverage will continue from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday on the same network.
Schedule
Wednesday
Second round from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
Thursday
Second round from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
Friday
Third round from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
Saturday
Third round from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tennis Channel, noon to 3 p.m. on NBC/Peacock and 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Peacock
Sunday
Fourth round from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tennis Channel, noon to 3 p.m. on NBC/Peacock and 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Peacock
Monday
Fourth round from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
Tuesday
Quarterfinals from 5 a.m. to noon and 2 to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
June 7
Quarterfinals from 5 a.m. to noon and 2 to 5 p.m. on Tennis Channel
June 8
Women's semifinals from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tennis Channel and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
June 9
Men's semifinals from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tennis Channel and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
June 10
Women's final from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
June 11
Men's final from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
