Halep, Svitolina Line Up Popcorn Match; Mladenovic on Court Tuesday at Roland Garros
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French Open favorite Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina, one of the hottest claycourt players this year, set up a quarterfinal meeting on Monday with wins at Roland Garros.
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The No. 3-seeded Halep routed No. 21 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-1, and the No. 5 Svitolina came from a set down to beat unseeded Petra Martic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“I had ‘Svitolina mode’ back,” Svitolina said about trailing 2-5 in the third set. “I start playing, I start waiting for the right ball. I was fighting to earn myself opportunities to hit a winner. I try to find myself in this zone where I don’t do many unforced errors and I still play aggressive. Sometimes, of course, there will be a struggle in my game. But then I find this place where I feel comfortable and very confident with my game.”
Halep said she was happy with her level.
“I think I played my best match this year,” Halep said. “She is a very good player on clay. I pushed her back, I tried to be aggressive and I was extra motivated because I really enjoy this court and it’s great to play the quarterfinal again.”
No. 2 Karolina Pliskova and No. 28 Caroline Garcia also set up a meeting when the Czech came from a set down to beat Veronica Cepede Royg 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Garcia won the all-French affair with Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4.
“Before I would have a lot of negative thoughts,” Garcia said. “Today I was super determined, and able to push out these negative thoughts. Even playing on Chatrier, I was just going for it. I was pretty happy I was going to play on this court against Alize Cornet.”
Matches on court Tuesday at Roland Garros are (13) Kristina Mladenovic vs. (30) Timea Bacsinszky, and (11) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jelena Ostapenko.
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