American Sloane Stephens sets up clash with Barbora Krejcikova

PARIS: American Sloane Stephens gave an indication of her French Open ambitions, defeating No.18 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 in one hour, 55 minutes to move into the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday.

The 2018 runner-up will next face another Czech player, world No.33 Barbora Krejcikova, who had won her maiden title in Strasbourg last week to signal her intent.

Barbora extended her winning streak to eight, thrashing No.6 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2.

Karolina and Elina's exit means the only seeds remaining in the top quarter of the draw are No.13 Jennifer Brady, No.24 Coco Gauff (both US) and No.25 Ons Jabeur (Tunisia).

Sloane, who has now reached the fourth round on seven of her 10 appearances at Roland Garros, was in control of the proceedings from the start, taking a 6-3, 2-0 lead.

The world No. 59 American got 84 per cent of her first serves in and, combining it with aggressive play, left Karolina clueless.

Though Karolina did come up with occasional winners, the Czech player was unable to consistently trouble Sloane.

"My first big fourth round or whatever at a slam was here," said Stephens. "And obviously consistently making fourth round here has been kind of a staple for me, which has been great. Obviously one of my favourite tournaments of the year, so peaking here has always been really important."

Fourth seed Sofia Kenin rallied from a set down to book a place in the last-16, defeating fellow American Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Kenin, who finished runner-up to Iga Swiatek last year, made a bright start to take a 3-0 lead before unforced errors crept into her game, allowing Pegula to find her rhythm and draw level at 4-4.

Pegula, whose only WTA title came in 2019, showed incredible court coverage as she broke her opponent for the third time for a 5-4 lead before serving out the opening set.

But Kenin roared back, dropping just one game in the second set and pushing Pegula around the court with pinpoint groundstrokes.

The 2020 Australian Open champion carried the momentum into the final set as she broke Pegula twice in the opening three games before serving out the final game, booking a spot in the second week of the tournament. Agencies

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