Defending champion Simona Halep made light work of Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko to reach the French Open last 16.

Romania’s Halep, seeded third, needed just 55 minutes to win 6-2 6-1 against the 27th seed.

Tsurenko failed to hold any of her eight service games on Philippe Chatrier.

Former world number one Halep, 27, will face one of unseeded pair Monica Puig and Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter-finals.

“It was a tough match even if the scoreline does not show it,” Halep said. “Every day in my life I have that image of me winning last year in my mind, it was my greatest moment of my career.”

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A favourable draw has further opened up for Halep, who cannot now face another seeded opponent until the semi-finals where top seed Naomi Osaka or 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams could await.

In her attempts to defend the title, the Romanian is trying to buck a trend that has been difficult to break.

If she manages to lift the Coupe de Suzanne Lenglen again a week on Sunday, she will become only the sixth woman to defend the trophy in the Open era after Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Justine Henin.

To do that she will expect to have to work much harder than she did against Tsurenko, who appeared to struggle with injury or perhaps the effects of a long second-round match that was played over two days and only finished on Friday.

The Ukrainian needed a lengthy medical timeout in the second set, where she lay on a mat on the ground receiving treatment to her hip.

After three-set tests in her opening two matches against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic and Poland’s Magda Linette, Halep would have been grateful for a more routine victory.

Tsurenko, 30, made 32 unforced errors and won just 28% of her service points, although showed brief resistance to fight off two match points before succumbing.

Johanna Konta became the first British woman to reach the French Open last 16 since 1983 by thrashing Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova at Roland Garros.

Konta, 28, continued her fine clay-court season with a 6-2 6-1 late-evening victory on the new Court Simonne Mathieu.

Despite suffering sickness this week, the 26th seed broke serve five times to seal an impressive win in 54 minutes.

Konta will play Croatia’s 24th seed Donna Vekic on Sunday.

“I get my attention brought to these different little milestones – it is definitely a nice pat on the back,” she said.

“It’s a nice thing to hear, especially after winning a match.”

The Briton had never won a main-draw match at Roland Garros before this week, but now finds herself with a shot at the quarter-finals.

Anne Hobbs and Jo Durie were the last British women to get to the last 16 in Paris in 1983, Durie going on to reach the semi-finals.

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Stunning Konta outclasses Kuzmova

Konta has now reached at least the last 16 in all of the four Grand Slams.

That achievement was secured by a stunning performance against 21-year-old Kuzmova, in which she won 80% of the points behind her first serve and hit 20 winners.

Konta showed exactly why she has surged back up the world rankings after a productive clay-court season which has seen her reach the Morocco Open and Italian Open finals, beating Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and Kiki Bertens along the way in Rome.

The Briton would have expected to meet Bertens again in this match, but that match-up did not materialise after the Dutch fourth seed retired from her second-round match against Kuzmova because of illness.

Konta has also been struggling with sickness in Paris, suffering with a blocked nose and sore throat after Wednesday’s win over Lauren Davis.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is the most human I have felt the last few days,” Konta said.

Konta had needed mental resilience to beat the American – this match was much more straightforward.

Kuzmova, ranked 46th in the world, offered little resistance in a first set where Konta rocked her with some pounding first serves and stunning winners.

Konta broke on her way to winning the opening three games and, after a blip when Kuzmova broke back for 3-2, refocused to rattle off the next three games for the set.

Kuzmova’s woes were summed up by a double fault on set point and she continued to look edgy in the second set.

With Kuzmova’s body language indicating she was there for the taking, Konta continued to pummel her opponent and conceded just nine points as victory was quickly wrapped up.

“I feel pleased with the way I was able to deal with my opponent – I didn’t give her an opportunity to play,” Konta added.

“Being able to do that from the beginning to the end is a nice feeling.”

‘A seriously impressive performance’ – analysis

BBC Sport tennis correspondent Russell Fuller at Roland Garros

This was a seriously impressive performance by a woman high on confidence.

Kuzmova is having a fine season but proved erratic in her first appearance in the third round of a Grand Slam.

And that was hardly surprising as Konta served superbly and hit a lot of heavy balls deep in the court to put enormous pressure on the 21-year-old.

A quarter-final opportunity now knocks for either Konta or Donna Vekic.

There is a little to choose between them: they have split their six meetings to date, and Vekic is seeded just three places higher.

A repeat of their Wimbledon second-round match of 2017 would not go amiss. Konta won 10-8 in the final set, as flying ants descended on the All England Club.

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World number nine Elina Svitolina, who has won 13 singles titles on the WTA Tour, has been writing columns for the BBC Sport website during the French Open.

The 24-year-old Ukrainian lost 6-3 6-3 to 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza in the third round at Roland Garros on Friday.

In her final column, she talks about her concerns a knee injury may disrupt the grass-court season, what went wrong against Spain’s Muguruza, how living in London has led to British habits and paying 12,000 euros (£10,500) for a young Ukrainian player to have surgery on a serious injury.

The hours after being knocked out of a Grand Slam are not the moments to make rash decisions.

But I’ve been managing a knee injury for a while and against Garbine it felt the same.

So maybe I will need an MRI scan on my knee next week and see what is the best option going into the grass-court season.

Of course there is a concern I might not play on the grass at all if a scan shows something really serious.

But, feeling how I feel now, I think I will have enough time to recover for Wimbledon.

Against Garbine it was very tough to keep focus and concentration – maybe it was the lack of matches at the highest level over the past two or three months.

Before Roland Garros I had only played two matches – losing in Madrid and Rome – since the Miami Open in March.

The problem didn’t get any worse in the match against Garbine though, so that is good.

Grass is tricky because you have to be ready for movements which could maybe damage the knee more.

It has not been easy for the past two months. I need to see where I am now and take my time.

I have to speak with my team and speak with doctors about when I should start playing on the grass.

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‘I was lost on court’

It is tough to say if Garbine is now the favourite to win Roland Garros but she definitely can play well here – obviously she won here three years ago.

It wasn’t an amazing match but she took her chances and served well when she had to.

I made too many unforced errors and too many poor decisions.

Normally my game is about getting balls back and not making many unforced errors. Normally I’m dictating the point.

But I was a bit lost on court. I didn’t feel so good with the decisions I made.

I hadn’t played since Sunday – when I beat Venus Williams – because my next opponent Kateryna Kozlova pulled out of our match on Wednesday with illness.

It’s tough to say if losing serve five times in the first set and only landing 37% of first serves was down to not playing for so long.

She returned well and I was not concentrating on what I had to do.

I have to go back and analyse and see what I did wrong and move forward.

There is no time to be sad. You have to be ready for the next tournament.

I have to be mentally strong. This is a big part of tennis, getting through these moments.

‘Now I drink tea like the British’

As a top-10 player, I have the privilege of being allowed to practise at Wimbledon early so – injury permitting – I can start playing on the grass in plenty of time.

At the moment I am scheduled to play Birmingham and Eastbourne before Wimbledon, but it depends on my health.

I used to live in London and still have an apartment there so I enjoy going back.

I love the city and that will be my base for the grass-court season.

I love the parks, the small cafes, the nice people and the atmosphere. I enjoy simply walking around and spending time there.

My favourite place is Chelsea, by the harbour, that’s really nice.

And I’ve actually started drinking English tea – with milk. In Ukraine we don’t put milk in tea, we only have green tea.

So that’s the most British thing I’ve learned!

‘I didn’t hesitate to help’

Two weeks ago I heard a 16-year-old Ukrainian player called Daria Lopatetska got injured at a 25k event in Rome and her parents couldn’t afford to pay 12,000 euros (£10,500) for her knee surgery.

As soon as I saw the news, I didn’t hesitate before calling them and offering to pay.

It was important for me to react straight away.

I was sad when I heard because it is a very young age to go through bad injuries. It can damage your future.

I think it is important to help the young generation of Ukrainian players because we can’t afford to lose any future stars.

She was happy that I could help and her parents were very thankful.

It is important to help people when you can and I hope she recovers soon because she is one of Ukraine’s rising stars.

Elina Svitolina was talking to BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jurejko at Roland Garros.

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are safely through to the fourth round of the French Open for a record 14th time.

The pair move ahead of American former world number one Budge Patty for most fourth-round appearances in Paris.

Federer, a French Open champion in 2009, also became the oldest person to reach this stage of a Grand Slam since Jimmy Connors at the US Open in 1991.

The 37-year-old beat Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3 6-1 7-6 (10-8) and is the first to play 400 Grand Slam matches.

The third seed, who is playing in his first French Open since 2015, will face Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the fourth round.

Nadal, who recorded a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over Belgian 27th seed David Goffin on Philippe Chatrier, will play Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Londero.

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On course to meet in semi-finals

Federer’s victory over Ruud was fairly routine after the Swiss broke twice in the opener and went on to win nine games in a row, taking a 5-0 lead into the second.

But world number 63 Ruud, playing in the French Open for only the second time, bounced back to break in the third and although Federer immediately broke back, the Norwegian took it to a tie-break.

He saved two match points then had set point at 7-6 in the tie-break but Federer’s experience came through in another straight-set victory.

Nadal was also made to work for his win despite easing to a two-set lead in an hour and 15 minutes.

Goffin, a quarter-finalist in 2016, was broken twice in the first two sets but broke late in the third to take Nadal into an unexpected fourth set.

The Belgian ran out of steam though, as Nadal showed composure to regain his dominance and wrap up the win in just under three hours.

It is only the second time in 17 matches in Paris that defending champion Nadal has dropped a set and he remains on course to face Federer in the semi-finals.

The Spaniard, who is bidding to become the first player in history to win 12 singles titles at any Grand Slam event, last dropped a set against Argentinean Diego Schwartzman in last year’s quarter-finals.

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Emotional farewell for Frenchman Mahut

Elsewhere, Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori came through a thrilling five-set battle with Serbian world number 32 Laslo Dere on Court One.

The two-time quarter-finalist won 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 4-6 8-6 in four and a half hours after coming back from two breaks down in the fifth set and will face French world number 38 Benoit Paire in the fourth round.

Earlier, Frenchman Lucas Pouille, seeded 22nd, lost 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-3 3-6 9-7 to Slovak world number 55 Martin Klizan after the match was suspended during the fifth set for bad light on Thursday evening.

Pouille later criticised ticket-holders and told a French radio station: “They’d rather have a glass of champagne than watch the tennis, that’s the main reason they come. They should [fill the stands] with people who want to watch the tennis.”

Compatriot Nicolas Mahut, 37, who was described as tennis’ answer to Benjamin Button in a press conference on Thursday, lost 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to Argentine world number 68 Mayer, who faces Federer next.

He was in tears after losing the fourth set tie-break and waved goodbye to the Simonne Mathieu court with his son by his side.