French Open 2017: Simona Halep, Stan Wawrinka, Alize Cornet, Caroline Wozniacki through
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French Open |
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Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May- 11 June |
Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Romanian third seed Simona Halep sealed her place in the French Open fourth round with a 6-0 7-5 win over Russia's Daria Kasatkina.
Halep, 25, is viewed as one of the favourites after winning the Madrid Open and reaching the Rome Open final.
Ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was stunned 6-2 6-1 by French world number 43 Alize Cornet.
In the men's draw, Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka beat Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 6-2 to reach the last 16.
Halep to meet Suarez Navarro in last 16
Halep initially threatened to cruise past Kasatkina as she won the opening set in 30 minutes, only for the 20-year-old Russian to fight back in the second.
Trailing 3-1, Kasatkina won the next four games to move 5-3 ahead before Halep regained control to progress on her fourth match point.
"I played really well at the beginning," Halep said.
"She was coming back really strongly and I think my energy went a bit down. She's a really tough opponent."
Carla Suarez Navarro, the Spanish 21st seed, set up a meeting with Halep with a 6-4 6-4 win over 14th seed Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Former Wimbledon finalist Radwanska, 28, failed to win any of her seven service games as Cornet ensured there will be a French woman in the quarter-finals for the first time since Marion Bartoli in 2011.
Cornet, 27, meets compatriot Caroline Garcia for a place in the last eight.
Garcia needed more than two and a half hours to win 6-4 4-6 9-7 against Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei, who beat British number one Johanna Konta in the first round.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki resumed her match against 18-year-old American Catherine Bellis after rain stopped play on Friday night, the Dane going to complete a 6-2 2-6 6-3 win.
Can Stan be the man again?
Wawrinka, 32, is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year as he looks to emulate his 2015 triumph.
The Swiss third seed looked in danger of doing that in the opening set against Fognini, but the Italian 28th seed failed to serve out and then lost a one-sided tie-break.
Fognini, 30, had won two of his three matches against top-five opponents this year, beating then fourth-ranked Kei Nishikori in Miami and world number one Andy Murray in Rome.
But he capitulated after losing the first set to Wawrinka, failing to take a game in the second as he served up five double faults and produced several wayward forehands.
Fognini saved two match points at 5-2 in the third, before the Swiss fired down an unreturnable serve on the third.
"It was a very good first set and I was a bit hesitant, but after that I relaxed," Wawrinka said.
"I am playing very well at the moment but we all know how that can go in a Grand Slam. Each game gets more difficult."
Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic eased to a 6-1 6-3 6-3 victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez.
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