Garbine Muguruza cruises past Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3 to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard reached the second week of Roland Garros for a sixth consecutive year after a comfortable straight sets win over Elina Svitolina.
It was a poor performance from Svitolina, who was broken seven times during the match as she did not play her best on Philippe Chatrier.
As for the 2016 champion, she now awaits Sloane Stephens or Polona Hercog in the last 16 on Sunday.
A nervy start for both players as they were playing their first match on the new Chatrier court and adapting to the slower conditions.
Some good defence from Svitolina was on show as she aimed to counterpunch the powerful Muguruza, who was playing some clean tennis.
After seven breaks of serve, the first hold of the match went to the Spaniard who was dominating behind her first serve more than Svitolina.
There was no consistency from Svitolina, who’s serve barely had any effect on the former world number one as another break of serve clinched the first set in 45 minutes.
A more optimistic second set evolved for Svitolina, who created some nice angles off the return and made Muguruza work harder from the back of the court.
Not only were there a couple of holds of serve, but a hard-fought break meant Svitolina charged into a 3-2 lead as she looked to force a decider.
However all that break did was motivate the two time grand slam champion even more as she dominated the baseline exchanges.
The recent knee injury seemed to effect Svitolina in this match-up as she could not generate the power of precision like she normally does.
Some tired-looking shots saw the 9th seed fade away as Muguruza collected four games in a row to reach the second week for a sixth consecutive time.
Spanish Smiles 😄@GarbiMuguruza improves to 6-0 in third round matches at Roland-Garros after sending off Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3.#RG19 pic.twitter.com/Jo2APnY2Eo
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2019
It was a very good performance from the Spaniard, which now puts her in contention to be a title contender. As for Svitolina, her search for grand slam glory continues.
Next up for Muguruza is Sloane Stephens or Polona Hercog.
Sevastova Battles Past Mertens
Meanwhile in other results Anastasija Sevastova saved five match points to edge out Elise Mertens 6-7(3) 6-4 11-9. In an epic, the Latvian kept her strong mental fortitude to advance to the fourth round.
Next up for the 12th seed is Marketa Vondrousova after the 19 year-old knocked out Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4 6-4.
