French Open: Ruthless Halep into quarters

Defending champion Simona Halep hurried into the French Open quarterfinals by sweeping aside Polish teenager Iga Swiatek in a 6-1 6-0 victory on Monday.

The third seed had a tough start to the tournament, dropping sets in her opening two rounds, but since then the 27-year-old Romanian has been ruthless.

After beating Lesia Tsurenko for the loss of three games in 55 minutes in round three, Halep needed only 45 minutes to defeat Swiatek 6-1 6-0.

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The 18-year-old Pole, last year’s Wimbledon junior champion, had done brilliantly to make the fourth round but it was a rather chastening experience as she won just 21 points.

“I have a good feeling, I feel good on court and I’m not stressing myself about the result,” said Halep.

Halep now faces an an even younger player in 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Spanish qualifier Aliona Bolsova 6-3 6-0 on Monday.

Work complete.@Simona_Halep cruises against Swiatek, 6-1 6-0 to reach a third consecutive Roland-Garros quarter-final.

???? https://t.co/6rMojApMKY #RG19 pic.twitter.com/jEUBlEE63R

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2019

Halep joked she felt “very old”, saying: “To play against someone 10 years younger than me, that’s not easy. But I feel stronger on court.

“We’ll see the next one. They’re young, they have nothing to lose, so every match is tough.”

Anisimova made her breakthrough by getting to the fourth round of the Australian Open in January and has now gone one better. She is the first player born in the 2000s to make the last eight at a slam.

The teenager revealed she was inspired by Halep, saying: “I was watching Simona before my match and then I was like, ‘Oh, my God, her backhand down the line is so good’, and she was taking her time, and then I think I was mimicking it in my match.

“I can’t describe how excited I am. It’s amazing playing her. I couldn’t ask for a better match-up.”

Earlier, American Madison Keys ensured a quarter-final showdown with Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.

In wet conditions in Paris, the 14th-seeded Keys had no problem dealing with 42nd-ranked Katerina Siniakova and advanced to last eight for the second straight year with a 6-2 6-4 victory.

Keys, the runner-up to Stephens at the 2017 U.S. Open and a semifinalist in Paris last year, said: “I’m definitely happy I was able to close it out in two sets.”

Keys and Barty played each other here two years ago in the first round, with the American winning 6-3 6-2.

Barty said: “I played her here at the French Open a few years ago in a match I would love to forget. So I think it’s very much a fresh, clean slate for this match.”