French Open 2018: Garbine Muguruza eases into last-16; Anett Kontaveit ends Petra Kvitova's 13-match winning streak

Paris: Former champion Garbine Muguruza reached the French Open last-16 on Saturday with a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win over Australia’s Sam Stosur. Spanish third seed Muguruza, the 2016 winner in Paris and the reigning Wimbledon champion, fired 15 winners past Stosur, the 34-year-old 2010 runner-up and former US Open champion. [caption id=“attachment_4492979” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Garbine Muguruza celebrates after winning her third round match against Samantha Stosur. Reuters [/caption] After wrapping up the first set in just 25 minutes, Stosur only got on the board in the third game of the second. “I knew this would be very tough against a former US Open winner and a player who has made the final here,” said 24-year-old Muguruza. “If I didn’t play my best tennis, I realised that it would be very hard. “Coming back here to Court Philippe Chatrier where I won two years ago always brings special feelings inside me.” The Spaniard goes on to face Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine who knocked out Slovakian 19th seed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-4. Tsurenko has now reached the last 16 in Paris for the first time, equalling her best run at a Slam at the 2016 US Open. Petra Kvitova’s hot streak on clay ended in disappointing fashion as the Czech lost 7-6(6) 7-6(4) to Anett Kontaveit in a delayed French Open third round match on Saturday. Kvitova, one of seven women’s Grand Slam champions in action on Day Seven, was edged out in a tight tussle on Court One — snapping a 13-match winning run. The eighth seed began in confident fashion against the Estonian she beat on the way to the Madrid title last month, but a 3-1 lead turned into a 5-3 deficit. Kvitova recovered to take the opener into a tiebreak but Kontaveit, herself in fine form on clay, edged it 8-6. Kontaveit rallied from 2-4 in the second set but squandered two match points when serving at 5-4 — missing two regulation forehands — and Kvitova dug in to level at 5-5. The 25th seed served for the match again at 6-5 but faltered once more. She received a gift in the tiebreak though when Kvitova slammed a smash long at 3-5 and although Kontaveit double-faulted on her first match point she sealed her first career win over the twice Wimbledon champion on the next one. With inputs from agencies