Swiatek ousts top-seeded Halep from French Open

Paris: Polish teenager Iga Swiatek ousted the 2018 champion and top-seeded Simona Halep from the French Open, winning 6-1, 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Swiatek, the only teenager who reached the fourth round, avenged a crushing defeat by Halep at the same stage last year. The Romanian won that match 6-1, 6-0, in just 45 minutes.

Swiatek turned the tables this time. She never faced a break point and punished Halep with her crunching baseline shots and exquisite net play. Swiatek's win on the Court Philippe Chatrier ended a career-best 17-match winning streak for Halep.

After losing the first set in just 26 minutes and then losing her first service game at the start of the second, Halep fought desperately to reverse the momentum.

She saved four break points in the third game and another five before being broken again in the fifth game.

Swiatek suffered none of the nerves that blunted her powerful tennis in their meeting last year.

"I felt I was playing perfectly, she said. Even I am surprised that I could do that."

French Open organizers say two players have been removed from the girls' junior tournament after testing positive for the Coronavirus.

The girls were not named.

Play started Sunday in the girls' tournament.

On the other hand, while there have been upsets in the women's draw, it's business as usual for Rafael Nadal among the men at the French Open.

Against a player who loves him so much that he named his cat after him, Nadal showed no mercy with Sebastian Korda, seeing off the 20-year-old qualifier with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 thumping on Court Philippe Chatrier to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the 14th time.

Nadal has yet to drop a set in his pursuit of a 13th French Open crown that would give him 20 major titles overall, tying Roger Federer's record.

Korda, the son of 1998 Australian champion Petr Korda, got swept away by Nadal's power on the red clay but did get consoling words of encouragement from his 34-year-old tennis idol who said the youngster's play was really

impressive.

All of our generation, we try very hard to be passionate, Nadal said.

If that's a good inspiration for the young generation, that's good.

Martina Trevisan's career is taking off in spectacular fashion, with the Italian becoming the first of two qualifiers in eight years to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open by beating Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4 on Sunday.

She was then joined in the last eight by Argentine Nadia Podoroska, who beat Czech Barbora Krejcikova 2-6 6-2 6-3, making it only the second time since tennis turned professional in 1968 that two qualifiers have progressed to that stage of the

competition.

World number 159 Trevisan, who did not play tennis between 2009 and 2014 because of an eating disorder, played aggressively throughout to set up a meeting with Polish teenager Iga Swiatek, who knocked out top seed Simona Halep.