Halep continues title defence with easy win to reach last eight
2019 French Open |
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Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June |
Coverage: Live text and radio commentary on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Reigning French Open champion Simona Halep moved into the quarter-finals of the 2019 tournament with a 6-1 6-0 win over Polish teenager Iga Swiatek.
Third seed Halep, 27, won in 44 minutes against the 18-year-old and is the only one of the top six seeds left in the women’s singles at Roland Garros.
The Romanian will play either American Amanda Anisimova or Spain’s Aliona Bolsova in the quarter-finals.
American Madison Keys beat Katerina Siniakova in straight sets.
She now faces a quarter-final against Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty.
Halep – aiming to win her second Grand Slam title following her victory over American Sloane Stephens in the 2018 Paris final – won the opening four games of the match.
Swiatek, ranked 104th in the world, won the Wimbledon junior title in 2018 and defeated 16th seed Qiang Wang of China on her way to the last 16 of the French Open.
But any thoughts of greater resistance in the second set disappeared as she was broken at the first opportunity, with Halep going on to secure a routine victory.
She has now reached at least the last eight in Paris three years in a row.
Keys to face Barty in quarter-final
Keys, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last year, progressed in one hour 16 minutes with a 6-2 6-4 victory over the 23-year-old Czech.
Barty, meanwhile, needed three sets to see off American Sofia Kenin, 20, who knocked out Serena Williams.
Barty eventually won 6-3 3-6 6-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It means a first quarter-final in Paris for the 23-year-old and her second in as many Grand Slams this year, after reaching the last eight at the Australian Open.
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