French Open 2018: Garbine Muguruza and Marin Cilic reach third round at Roland Garros with contrasting wins

Paris: Garbine Muguruza and Marin Cilic reached the third round of the French Open with contrasting wins as play got underway at Roland Garros on day five. Muguruza cruised past French wildcard player Fiona Ferro 6-4 6-3 on Thursday, booking her place in the French Open third round. [caption id=“attachment_4490239” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Garbine Muguruza and Marin Cilic booked their spots in the French Open third round. AP[/caption] The Spaniard sealed the match with a whipped cross-court forehand, though for much of the match the number three seed struggled to find her rhythm and range on the forehand. Muguruza, who won at Roland Garros in 2016 and heads to Wimbledon this year as defending champion, had not played 21-year-old Ferro before Thursday’s encounter. “She’s young and she’s talented,” Muguruza said in a post-match interview on court Suzanne Lenglen. “These matches are very difficult.” Muguruza arrived in Paris as one of five women with a chance of claiming the World No 1 spot. Her form leading up to the clay-court Grand Slam was mixed, exiting the Madrid Open in the third round and suffering a defeat in her opening match of the Rome Open. But she said she felt good in Paris. “The French Open is the tournament for me. My body is good and my tennis is following,” she said. Muguruza hit 26 winners and 23 unforced errors, often over-cooking her forehand from the baseline. She eases into the third round for the fifth consecutive year and will face 2010 French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur of Australia who beat 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. Stosur was also a semifinalist in 2009, 2012 and 2016. Only once, in 11 attempts, has Pavlyuchenkova reached the second week at Roland Garros, making the quarterfinals in 2011. Third seed Marin Cilic reached the French Open third round for the eighth time on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-5 win over Polish qualifier and World No 188 Hubert Hurkacz. Former US Open champion Cilic, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris last year, will face Steve Johnson of the United States for a place in the last 16. It was a roller-coaster of a performance by Cilic who cracked 48 winners but also 52 unforced errors. With inputs from AFP, AP and Reuters.