Stefanos Tsitsipas, Pavlyuchenkova move into quarters

PARIS: Stefanos Tsitsipas held off a late challenge from Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta to advance into the quarter-finals of the French Open with a 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory on Sunday.

The Greek, who won two titles on clay in the lead-up to Roland Garros, was barely troubled in the first two sets, often charging to the net and easily reading his opponent's serve.

But a lack of precision in key moments allowed Carreno Busta to threaten a comeback in the third, only for the fifth seed to tighten his grip again and make sure he wasted little time on court Philippe Chatrier.

Tsitsipas, a semi-finalist here last year, will face world number two Daniil Medvedev of Russia who beat Chile's Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.

"The fans love it, I love it, I love playing with people, I love attention," Tsitsipas, who played his previous match in an empty stadium because of the local nine p.m. COVID-induced curfew, said in a courtside interview.

"It's a privilege and a great sensation for me. Today it was working good for me, I felt like my tactics were working even if I missed some of my drop shots."

Tsitsipas moved 4-0 ahead in a near-perfect start with Carreno Busta looking unable to find his range.

The second set went through in the blink of an eye but Carreno Busta, who reached the last eight at Roland Garros last year, mixed up his game to move 4-1 up in the third as Tsitsipas failed to convert his breaking opportunities.

The Greek, however, just had to move up a gear to turn it around, and he wrapped up the win with a crosscourt forehand winner.

Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova rolled back the years as she reached the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time since 2011 by beating former world number one Victoria Azarenka 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday.

The 31st seed, who will play in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the seventh time but has never progressed further, sent down 44 winners in a display of constant aggression on a sun-kissed Philippe Chatrier court.

She will next face Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina who beat Serena Williams.

"It's incredible that I'm still playing tennis 10 years after, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to me. I fought on every point and I'm really happy to go through," said Pavlyuchenkova.

Belarusian Azarenka, seeded 15th, was a doubt for the claycourt major after withdrawing from the Madrid Open last month with back pain, but she had been solid so far.

Against Pavlyuchenkova, however, the 2020 US Open runner-up fell 3-1 behind after losing her first service game but she kept her cool to break back and steal her opponent's serve in the 11th game before holding to bag the opening set.

She dropped serve three times in a see-saw second set and Pavlyuchenkova took even more risks in the decider.

The Russian was rewarded with a break for 3-2 and she did not release her grip until Azarenka buried a backhand into the net on match point. Agencies

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