French Open 2017: Simona Halep storms into quarter-finals, Elina Svitolina ends Petra Martic's dream run

Paris: In four previous matches on clay, Simon Halep had never been able to beat Carla Suarez Navarro.

The third-seeded Romanian took care of that problem on Monday at the French Open, routing Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

Romania's Simona Halep celebrates winning her fourth round match against Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. Reuters

"I was expecting a very tough game," said Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up. "I managed to push her back."

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Playing on Court Philippe Chatrier, Halep improved her career record against Suarez Navarro to 7-5 by beating the Spaniard for the second time in a row.

Halep is one of the favourites to win the title in Paris and swept aside her 21st-seeded opponent in exactly one hour on Court Philippe Chatrier.

She will next face fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina, who rallied to beat Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Svitolina ended the dream run of world number 290 Martic at the French Open. Martic, who came through qualifying, threw away a golden chance to make the quarter-finals after leading 5-2 and 30-0 on Svitolina's serve in the deciding set. The Ukrainian managed to hold serve, however, which allowed Martic to serve for the match at 5-3.

But Svitolina, who needed treatment on her back at the start of the third set, broke and soon won on her second match point, when Martic hit a backhand into the net.

"It was amazing tennis from Petra today and she was really striking the ball well," Svitolina said. "I was really happy to come back in the second set. Thanks to the crowd for cheering me on. They gave me the energy to fight."

With inputs from AP and AFP