French Open: Rublev dumped out by Arnaldi; Iga Swiatek, Gauff, Sinner march on

PARIS: World number one Iga Swiatek celebrated her 23rd birthday in style with an emphatic 6-4, 6-2 victory over Marie Bouzkova to move into the last 16 at the French Open on Friday.

Swiatek survived a major scare in the previous round when she saved a match point against Naomi Osaka before sealing a hard-fought victory, but against Bouzkova she picked apart the Czech player’s serve with some precision hitting.

The defending champion showed no signs of a hangover from the three-setter with Osaka and consolidated an early break to go 3-1 up in the opening set, but Bouzkova fought back from 5-2 down to give the Pole a workout.

However, Swiatek switched gears and carefully constructed her points, using the angles well to make Bouzkova run from one corner of Court Philippe-Chatrier to the other, firing 18 winners in total in the opening set.

The top seed continued to dominate in the second set as she effortlessly turned defence into offence on Bouzkova’s serve, breaking twice to race into a 4-0 lead before the Czech managed to get on the board.

Bouzkova saved a match point on her serve, but she only delayed the inevitable as Swiatek sealed progress with a searing winner down the line.

In men’s section, Italy's Matteo Arnaldi produced a sensational performance to take out sixth seed Andrey Rublev and reach the last 16 stage

The 23-year-old saved a set point in the opening set and went on to dominate his emotionally-charged opponent for a 7-6(8) 6-2 6-4 victory to equal his best Grand Slam run.

Russian Rublev ranted and raged at himself as the match began to slip away, thumping his racket into his legs and kicking his courtside bench as another chance at a deep Grand Slam run came to a bitter end on the Parisian dust.

Arnaldi, who also reached the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open, was rock-solid throughout and barely put a foot wrong as he posted one the biggest wins of his career.

Rublev has reached 10 Grand Slam quarter-finals without ever going further but on this occasion even that proved beyond him as he could find no answer to Arnaldi's accuracy and power.

He is the highest-seeded casualty so far in the men's draw.

Arnaldi will play either Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas or China's Zhang Zhizhen for a place in the quarter-finals.

World number two Jannik Sinner eased into the fourth round with a ruthless 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Russian Pavel Kotov.

The Australian Open champion, wearing a long-sleeve undershirt on yet another chilly day, only faced one break point in a one-sided encounter.

Eighth seed Ons Jabeur continued her latest bid to become the first Arab and African woman to claim a Grand Slam title with a tough 6-4 7-6(5) victory over Canadian Leylah Fernandez that put her into the French Open fourth round.

Up next for Jabeur is unseeded Dane Clara Tauson, who stunned former runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-2 7-5.

Former finalist Marketa Vondrousova overcame France’s Chloe Paquet to win 6-1 6-3 and reach the last 16.

Vondrousova, who became the first unseeded player to win Wimbledon last year, was a beaten finalist at Roland Garros in 2019, and the Czech player kept alive her dream of a return to the final with her straight sets win.

The Czech 24-year-old will now play Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic, who has already knocked out 11th seed Danielle Collins.

American third seed Coco Gauff showed some second-set resilience in 6-2, 6-4 victory over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska to advance to the fourth round and move a step closer to ending a three-year clay court drought.

The U.S. Open winner, who reached the final in Paris in 2022 and last won a title on the surface in 2021, was in solid form in the first set against surprise Australian Open semi-finalist Yastremska before struggling briefly in the second.

She will next face Italy's world number 51 Elisabetta Cocciaretto who beat Liudmila Samsonova 7-6, 6-2.

In other matches, Clara Tauson beat Sofia Kenin 6-2, 7-5, Anastasia Potapova beat Wang Xinyu 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, Olga Danilovic beat Donna Vekic 0-6, 7-5, 7-6, Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat  Liudmila Samsonova 7-6, 6-2.

In men’s section, TomásMartín Etcheverry got walk over against Arthur Rinderknech when the score was  3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 5-0.

Rising teenager Mirra Andreeva clinched a spot in the Roland Garros third round for the second straight year after beating former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a late-night stunner on Thursday.

World No.38 Andreeva will look to make the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the third time in her young career when she takes on another surging player, Peyton Stearns of the United States,

Stearns registered and upset win over No.10 seed Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 6-2 to book a third-round spot at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. Agencies

Also Read: French Open 2024: Organisers Ban Alcohol At Stands After Unruly Behaviour From Fans

Also Watch: