Petra Kvitova in first quarter-final for eight years

PARIS: Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova reached the French Open quarter-finals for the first time in eight years as she overpowered China's Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-4 on Monday.

On yet another chilly day in the French capital, seventh seed Kvitova's superior firepower proved decisive as she posted her fourth successive straight-sets victory.

With so many big names already out, twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova will sense a golden title opportunity as she heads into a quarter-final against unseeded German Laura Siegemund.

"It was a great one today for sure," said Kvitova, who returned to action at the 2017 French Open following a knife attack six months earlier that left her with career-threatening hand injuries.

"To be back on the same court that I made my comeback and to make the quarter-final is something I didn't expect. I'm trying to play faster here and play aggressive off the returns," she told Eurosport.

The 30-year-old, whose best finish here was reaching the 2012 semi-finals, made her intentions clear from the start as she seized on anything short to dominate from the baseline, moving 4-0 ahead in 15 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Zhang, in the fourth round of a Slam for only the third time in 33 attempts having also not dropped a set so far, finally began to dig her heels in as Kvitova's error-count increased but she was unable to turn the tide.

Kvitova had to wait around in the cold as Zhang took a medical timeout at the end of the first set, but she turned up the heat to get an early break in the second set.

She broke again to lead 5-2 but some wild errors allowed the Chinese to win two straight games and create some tension.

Kvitova regained her focus though to seal victory with a love service hold.

Siegemund makes first Grand Slam quarters

World number 66 Siegemund, the oldest player left in the draw at 32, beat Spain's Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Both players struggled on serve in the opening set of their see-sawing fourth-round meeting on Court Simonne Mathieu, before Siegemund switched gears at 5-5 to claim the decisive break and take the early advantage in the contest.

Badosa, a former junior champion who knocked out 2017 winner Jelena Ostapenko in the previous round and 2018 runner-up Sloane Stephens in her second match, found herself down 3-1 in the second set as Siegemund turned up the heat.

World number 66 Siegemund fought off a spirited comeback attempt from Badosa to stretch the lead further with a break in the seventh game of the second set, before closing out her victory in style.

Tsitsipas waltzes into last-8

Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the second time as he brushed aside Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-2 at the French Open.

The Greek fifth seed was solid on serve throughout and played neatly as his Bulgarian opponent lost focus at crucial times under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier.

Last year's ATP Finals winner Tsitsipas, whose best result at a major is reaching the Australian Open semi-finals in 2019, will next face Russian 13th seed Andrey Rublev, with a last-four clash with world number one Novak Djokovic looming.

The 22-year-old raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set. Eighteenth seed Dimitrov went up a gear at 5-3, only to see three break points saved by Tsitsipas, who served it out to take the set.

The Greek had the upper hand in the second set, creating three break chances while comfortably holding serve. Tsitsipas won a tiebreak after saving two set points.

Being two sets down looked too big a mountain to climb for Dimitrov, who buried a volley into the net to hand his opponent the first break in the third set.

The black-clad Greek went on to wrap up a straightforward win on Dimitrov's serve.

Rublev battles back to beat Fucsovics

Russian Andrey Rublev reached his second successive Grand Slam quarter-final as he hit back to beat Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(3) at the French Open. The world number 12 looked in big trouble when he trailed by a set and 5-2 but rallied to end the run of Fucsovics who had shocked Rublev's compatriot Daniil Medvedev in round one. Rublev, who will take on Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the last four, is one of the form players of the year and his win was his 29th in 35 Tour-level matches.

Fucsovics was trying to become the first Hungarian man to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final for 39 years and will rue a missed opportunity.

Rublev, 22, has shown his battling qualities already this year at Roland Garros, coming back from two sets down in the first round against American Sam Querrey. Agencies

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