French Open 2018: Simona Halep beats Andrea Petkovic; David Goffin saves four match points in win over Gael Monfils

Paris: Top seed Simona Halep maintained her steady progress through the French Open draw when she beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-0 to reach the fourth round on Saturday. Relegated to the new Court 18 for the day, the Romanian had to battle for an hour to take the opening set but sped through the second with a minimum of fuss. [caption id=“attachment_4493191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Simona Halep celebrates after victory over Andrea Petkovic in the third round of French Open. AFP [/caption] Petkovic, a semi-finalist in 2014 but now ranked 107, needed treatment on her right knee at the start of the second set and was no match for the twice runner-up. Halep, cheered on by a noisy gaggle of Romanian fans, finished it off with a clinical backhand winner. She will face 16th seed Elise Mertens in round four. The Belgian 16th seed beat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-1. On the men’s side, David Goffin saved four match points, holding his nerve against a partisan French crowd, in beating Gael Monfils of France 6-7(6), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 for a place in the fourth round. From being on the precipice of defeat when serving at 4-5 in the fourth set, the eighth-seeded Belgian then profited when Monfils lost his cool. He broke the 32nd-seeded Frenchman after Monfils became irritated with the umpire for warning that he was taking too much time between points. Monfils was still complaining at the next changeover. “You know me, you know my temper,” he said to the umpire. Goffin then held serve to love to level at two sets apiece. Monfils appeared to be on his last legs, hunched over, sweat dripping off his nose, in the deciding set. But he summoned the energy to break Goffin when he was serving for the match at 5-2. Monfils’ fightback stopped there. Goffin set up match point with a crunching backhand return on Monfils’ second serve and won when Monfils then hit a forehand long. The match started Friday but was cut short because of rain. Goffin next plays Marco Cecchinato of Italy. Marin Cilic moved into the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the 20th time, eliminating Steve Johnson of the US 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Cilic won all 14 of his service games, broke Johnson four times and built a 35-14 edge in total winners. The No 3-seeded Croat won the 2014 US Open and has reached the final at two of the past three majors — Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open in January. He will face No 18 Fabio Fognini next. Johnson, ranked 46th, has never been to the round of 16 at Roland Garros. With inputs from agencies