French Open PIX: Swiatek, Sabalenka advance; Rune survives

Paris: Defending champion Iga Swiatek continued her bid for a fifth French Open title when the Polish fifth seed overcame Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 7-5 to reach the Roland Garros fourth round on a steamy Friday.

"I'm just happy that I was super solid in that last game and did not give her any free points," said Swiatek. "She went for it, and it was a great match. We both played nice and I'm happy with my performance." World number one Aryna Sabalenka's French Open quest continued as she powered into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Serbia's Olga Danilovic.

The Belarusian dominated her opponent from the start and although she faced some brief resistance in the second set, she easily set up a meeting with 16th seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States.

World number 10 Holger Rune had to dig deep before gritting out a 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 marathon victory over France's unseeded Quentin Halys to book his spot in the fourth round. The Dane had beaten Halys, ranked 52nd in the world, in another five-set thriller at last year's Wimbledon despite trailing by two sets, and it would not be much different this time. Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen beat Canadian Victoria Mboko 6-3, 6-4 on Court Simonne-Mathieu to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the second time in her career.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic battled past Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(1) in a match that lasted more than three hours on Thursday, to reach the third round and stay on track for a record-breaking 25th career Grand Slam title.

Italian star Lorenzo Musetti passed his first test at the French Open this year as he rallied from a set and a break down to move past Mariano Navone into the fourth round and match his best result at the clay-court major. Musetti defeated Navone 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to move into the Round of 16.

The eighth-seeded Italian trailed Navone 4-6, 0-2 but fought back brilliantly to beat the Argentine, who has reached tour-level finals on clay in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest.

Kazakh Elena Rybakina’s claycourt form showed no sign of dipping as she brushed aside former champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-2 in a duel of heavy hitters to reach the fourth round.

Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy eased past Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. (Agencies)

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