PARIS (AP) – The Latest on the French Open (all times local):
2 p.m.
Petra Martic has followed up her win over second-seeded Karolina Pliskova by rallying past Kaia Kanepi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The 31st-seeded Martic had entered with an 0-4 record in the fourth round at majors – first reaching the last 16 at Roland Garros seven years ago.
The Croatian says, “I waited for this moment so, so long I don’t even want to know how long.”
With both players trading moon balls late in the tense third set, Martic ran down a drop shot and responded with a forehand winner up the line to break for a 5-4 lead, then converted her first match point in the next game.
Martic says, “It didn’t look good at times. … But thank God I stayed there and it paid off.”
Martic next faces Vondrousova.
Also advancing was 26th-seeded Johanna Konta, who beat 23rd-seeded Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4. Konta’s quarterfinal opponent will be either 2016 champion Garbiñe Muguruza or 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens.
While Konta had reached two Grand Slam semifinals, at the Australian Open in 2016 and at Wimbledon in 2017, she had never been past the first round at Roland Garros in four previous appearances.
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12:10 p.m.
Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova has reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal without dropping a set.
The 19-year-old Vondrousova beat 12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-0 in just 59 minutes.
The only two games that Vondrousova lost came immediately after she took a medical timeout to receive treatment for an apparent cut on a finger of her left hand – her playing hand – while leading 3-0 in the first. She appeared to pick up the cut when Vondrousova slipped and fell to the clay in the previous game.
Vondrousova tells the crowd, “I think I played my best tennis today.”
With the temperature rising to nearly 85 Fahrenheit (29 Celsius), both players put towels containing ice packs around their necks during the changeovers.
Vondrousova improved to 25-5 since exiting the Australian Open in the second round – a stretch that includes finals in Budapest and Istanbul.
For a spot in the semifinals, Vondrousova will face either 31st-seeded Petra Martic or Kaia Kanepi.
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9 a.m.
Only three of the 16 women still in the French Open field have won a Grand Slam tournament – and two of them play each other in the fourth round.
The most intriguing matchup at Roland Garros on Sunday might just be 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens against two-time major champ Garbiñe Muguruza, which is scheduled to wrap up the schedule at Court Philippe Chatrier.
Muguruza’s first Slam title came in Paris in 2016, while Stephens was the runner-up a year ago against Simona Halep, who is on the other side of the draw.
In men’s action on Day 8, Rafael Nadal faces 78th-ranked Juan Ignacio Londero, and Roger Federer meets 68th-ranked Leonardo Mayer.
Neither Londero nor Mayer, both from Argentina, ever has played in the round of 16 at the French Open. Indeed, Londero is making his Grand Slam debut.
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