Dominic Thiem, Svitolina, Halep in the fourth round

PARIS: Third seed Dominic Thiem was not at his best but still had enough firepower to see off the challenge from Norway's Casper Ruud with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win to march into the fourth round of the French Open on Friday.

The US Open champion, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the last two finals at Roland Garros, struggled with his serve in the opening set and faced six break-points but improved as the match progressed under the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier. Facing the 21-year-old Ruud for the first time, the Austrian broke the 28th seed's serve six times and hit 32 winners to seal the match with a fifth ace on his second match-point.

Thiem, 27, will next meet the winner of the match between former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka and local hope Hugo Gaston.

Ruud arrived in Paris having reached the semi-finals in Rome and Hamburg in the lead-up to the Grand Slam and came into the third-round clash having won more tour-level claycourt matches than anyone else in 2020.

Bidding to become just the second Norwegian player to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam - his father Christian reached the last 16 at the 1997 Australian Open - Ruud gave a good account of himself but it was not enough. His highlight was a brilliant 'tweener' lob, hit between his legs, during the second set which landed on the baseline with Thiem scampering back from the net but unable to return.

Svitolina downs Alexandrova

Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina advanced into the fourth round of the French Open with a no-nonsense 6-4, 7-5 victory against Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova on Friday.

Svitolina, who reached the last eight twice at Roland Garros, benefited from the 27th seed's early string of unforced errors to take the better start as she set up a meeting with Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens or France's Caroline Garcia.

Alexandrova peppered court Suzanne Lenglen with unforced errors early on, staying in the contest courtesy of a reliable first serve, but the Russian fell one set behind when Svitolina converted her only break point in the 10th game.

Svitolina, who geared up for the French Open by winning the title at the Strasbourg International, saved a break point at 5-5 in the second set as the rallies got longer.

Alexandrova eventually paid the price for her effort and bowed out on her service game.

A double fault earned Svitolina two match points and the Ukrainian converted the first when her opponent whacked a forehand long.

Halep punishes Anisimova

Top seed Simona Halep extracted brutal revenge on American teenager Amanda Anisimova with a 6-0, 6-1 victory to move ominously into the fourth round. Anisimova caused a huge upset last year when she comfortably beat Romanian Halep, then the defending champion, in the quarter-finals, but could not reproduce that form as she received a 54-minute claycourt lesson.

Halep was in typically miserly mood on Court Philippe Chatrier, making only seven unforced errors and waiting for the 19-year-old Anisimova to make mistakes, of which she made 32. It took her only 23 minutes to win the opening set in which she made every single service return.

The 29th seeded Anisimova, who had dropped only four games in her first two matches, briefly threatened a revival at the start of the second set but Halep raced away to victory. Halep, who decided against travelling to the US Open so that she could train on clay, will face another rising star in the next round when she plays Poland's Iga Swiatek in a repeat of their fourth-round clash last year in which Halep dropped only one game.

Polish teenager Swiatek sweeps past Bouchard

Unseeded Polish teenager Iga Swiatek continued her impressive progress at the French Open as she swept aside former semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16 for the second year running. The 19-year-old, one of four teenagers to reach the third round, simply had too much firepower for wildcard Bouchard as she struck 30 winners on a damp and heavy Court Simonne-Mathieu.

Swiatek, whose run last year was ended by Simona Halep, has dropped only 13 games so far and spent little over three hours on court to race into the fourth round.

Bouchard, ranked 168th, reached the third round at a major for the first time since 2017, and battled hard against Swiatek but never really looked like turning it into a contest.

Podoroska's dream run continues

Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska continued her dream run at the French Open with a 6-3 6-2 defeat of Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to reach the fourth round. The 23-year-old from Rosario, ranked 131st in the world, was in total command against Slovakia's Schmiedlova who had taken out former world number ones Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka. Podoroska, whose great grand parents hailed from Ukraine, is the first woman from Argentina to reach the last 16 in Paris since Gisela Dulko in 2011. Agencies 

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