Toppers day out in Paris

World number one Serena Williams reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time since 2010 with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over top-ranked doubles player Roberta Vinci on Sunday. It was Williams’ 28th straight victory and underlined her title potential as her superior power overwhelmed her Italian challenger. She coped better with the blustery conditions on Philippe Chatrier Court and broke three times to take the first set.

Vinci, who has won three grand slam doubles titles with last year’s French Open finalist Sara Errani, tried to move her opponent round the court to compensate for her lack of weapons, and put up a better fight in the second set.But on the crucial points, she came up short and succumbed in one hour, 10 minutes. Williams, who won her only Roland Garros title in 2002, will face another former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last eight.

Novak Djokovic dished out a painful lesson to young pretender Grigor Dimitrov, beating the Bulgarian 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to move into the last 16 of the French Open on Saturday.
The only concern hanging over the world number one was an injury timeout in the third set when then the trainer was called on court to massage a problem with his shoulder. The Serb, chasing the only grand slam missing from his collection, capitalised on a string of Dimitrov errors to gain revenge over the player who had beaten him in Madrid in May.

The Serb will now face the German Philipp Kohlschreiber. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova gave warning that she can still contend at Grand Slams on Sunday by defeating eighth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany to reach the French Open quarterfinals. The 27-year-old Russian won the second of her two major titles in Paris in 2009, but since then she has struggled with injuries and loss of form, slipping to 85th in the world rankings at the start of the year.

Spaniard David Ferrer cut Kevin Anderson down to size to reach the French Open quarterfinals on Sunday, outclassing the towering South African to win 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga set up a potential clash with Roger Federer when he easily dispatched Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to book his place in the French Open quarterfinals on Sunday.

Claycourt warrior Tommy Robredo came back from the brink yet again to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-7(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday.