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.
World number two Jannik Sinner eased into the French Open fourth round with a ruthless 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory against Russian Pavel Kotov on Friday.
The Australian Open champion, wearing a long-sleeve undershirt on yet another chilly day, only faced one break point in a one-sided encounter.
Kotov, who was hoping to beat a second Grand Slam champion in a row after eliminating Stan Wawrinka in the previous round, got off to a fiery start but Sinner was still a level above in the first set.
The Italian got another early break in the second to move two sets up and the same pattern was repeated in the third as Sinner wrapped up victory with an ace on match point to set up a meeting with either Austrian Sebastian Ofner or local favourite Corentin Moutet.
Sinner also beat Kotov in straight sets in the Madrid Masters in April.
"It was very different, I just tried to stay very focused on my game. Thanks for the support, it's amazing to play on this court," Sinner said on court Philippe Chatrier, where the stands gradually filled up after lunch time.
Jabeur ousts Fernandez
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 on Friday.
Tunisian Jabeur has come within touching distance of Grand Slam glory in the past, reaching the last two Wimbledon finals and the 2022 U.S. Open title clash but the 29-year-old has not been able to cross the finish line.
A third-round meeting with fellow former Flushing Meadows runner-up Fernandez represented a tricky challenge and the pair exchanged breaks midway through the opening set before Jabeur took control of the contest on serve.
With limited success when she peppered the Suzanne Lenglen surface with her trademark drop shots against quick-moving 31st seed Fernandez, Jabeur quickly found herself trailing 3-1 in the second set.
"Everybody knows Leylah, she plays very well. She's a very aggressive player," said Jabeur. "I knew that I had to finish the match before the third set and I won some points at the right moments.
"It was a bit tough on serve but I'm very happy to win."
Jabeur, a quarter-finalist here last year, took the next two games to go level, before saving a set point in a five-deuce game and eventually completed the victory with an ice-cool show in the tie break.
Up next for Jabeur is unseeded Dane Clara Tauson, who stunned former runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-2 7-5.
Vondrousova ousts Paquet
Former finalist Marketa Vondrousova overcame France's Chloe Paquet to win 6-1 6-3 and reach the last 16 of the French Open on Friday.
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 fifth seed began strongly, breaking to love in the opening game, and although Paquet responded immediately with a break of her own, Vondrousova went on to win the next five games to take the first set with ease.
Paquet, 29, had never reached the third round before and her struggles continued in the second set when Vondrousova took a 3-0 lead, but the French player rallied and broke to pull it back to 4-3 down.
Vondrousova responded and broke again to move within one game of victory, and although Paquet forced a break point, Vondrousova held serve and moved into the fourth round.
The Czech 24-year-old will now play Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic, who has already knocked out 11th seed Danielle Collins.
Italy's Matteo Arnaldi produced a sensational performance to take out sixth seed Andrey Rublev and reach the last 16 of the French Open on Friday.
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.
Gauff enters fourth round
American third seed Coco Gauff showed some second-set resilience in 6-2, 6-4 victory over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska on Friday to advance to the French Open 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.
"I played her in Madrid and she plays really well from behind," Gauff said. "I knew closing the match would be difficult. I definitely could have closed it out on my serve (in the previous game)."
"The last game, she hit three or four balls on the edge of the line … it was difficult to stay focused and not get too mad. But I’m glad I was able to push through."
The Ukrainian world number 32, racing up the rankings after her career was derailed by a provisional doping ban in 2021, which was later lifted, was inconsistent with her big-hitting game as well as her serve and sent a backhand wide to give Gauff an early break.
Gauff then cruised through the set courtesy of another break as Yastremska's unforced errors piled up.
She did break Gauff repeatedly in the second set, threatening to make a game of it, with the American struggling with her first serve.
Just as Yastremska seemed to have found her range and a way back into the match, Gauff, who also had a match point at 5-2, held firm despite double-faulting in consecutive service games, to clinch it.
