Teenager Marketa Vondrousova yesterday continued to impress at Roland Garros when she walloped Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-0 to reach her maiden Grand Slam quarter-finals.
The 19-year-old Czech — who made quarter-final appearances at Indian Wells and Miami, and reached the final on clay in Istanbul this season — blew the 12th seed off court with a mix of power and guile from the baseline.
Vondrousova tormented a sorry Sevastova with drop shots throughout, bagging the last nine games to advance in searing heat.
Photo: AP
She has won all her four matches in Paris within 90 minutes and without dropping a set. Yesterday, she followed up her third-round victory against Carla Suarez Navarro with another stunning display.
Vondrousova next faces Petra Martic, the woman who beat her in the Istanbul final, after the Croatian 31st seed advanced in much more laborious fashion.
Martic, whose career has been hampered by back problems and slipped down to 662nd in the WTA rankings in April 2017, snatched a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.
In a see-saw encounter, Kanepi broke decisively in the 12th game to take the opening set, but Martic piled on the pressure as she raced through the second to force a decider.
Both players suffered early jitters as they each dropped serve twice in the first six games.
Martic saved a couple of break points at 4-3 before stealing Kanepi’s serve once again to move 5-4 up and serve it out, prevailing on her first match point.
Johanna Konta proved that she had found her comfort zone on Roland Garros’ red clay as she surged to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Donna Vekic to become the first British woman to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open in 36 years.
The last British woman to reach the Paris quarters was Jo Durie in 1983. Durie eventually lost in the semis.
Although Konta and Vekic had split their previous six encounters, including an epic clash in the second round of Wimbledon in 2017 that lasted more than three hours, this was their first meeting on clay.
Konta next faces either 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens or twice Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza for a spot in the semi-finals.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-peng and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia were defeated in the men’s doubles on Saturday by the French duo Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3. In the mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Oliver Marach of Austria defeated Australia’s Jessica Moore and India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 5-7, 6-4, 10-5.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AFP
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