Defending champion Simona Halep reached her fourth French Open quarter-final on Monday with a 45-minute thrashing of Polish teenager Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.
The Romanian third seed wasted no time in racing to a 6-1, 6-0 win, dropping only one game when serving for the opening set as Swiatek failed to hold serve in the match.
Halep will face American 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova next. Anisimova reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Spanish qualifier Aliona Bolsova.
The teenager fired 33 winners past her world 137-ranked opponent who was making her Roland Garros debut and is still completing her university studies in Barcelona.
“Kind of perfect, I felt really well on court,” said Halep. “I have a good feeling, I feel good on court. I’m back in the second week, in the quarter-finals. Anything that comes is a bonus.”
Earlier in the day, Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty beat Sofia Kenin, who stunned Serena Williams in the third round, to reach her second straight Grand Slam quarter-final.
Barty, who also made the last eight at the Australian Open earlier this year, won 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier to set up a tie with 14th-seeded American Madison Keys.
Keys, who reached the semi-finals in 2018, reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros for the second successive year with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Katerina Siniakova, the conqueror of top seed Naomi Osaka.
“I was really happy to close it out as playing three sets in these heavy conditions does not sound like much fun,” said the 24-year-old. “I love clay courts and Paris and I am happy to play another match.”
“It’s my first time this week playing on this beautiful court and I just wanted to come out here and enjoy it,” said the 23-year-old former cricketer Barty.
“It [playing cricket] was incredible, it made me more hungry to come back and have success in tennis.”
With AFP inputs
