Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro smiles after defeating Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic during their fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France, Sunday, June 1, 2014. AP
PARIS — Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain reached the French Open quarter-finals for the first time in six years on Sunday, by defeating Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3.
The 14th seed, who played as a 19-year-old qualifier in the last eight in 2008 on her debut in the competition, will take on Eugenie Bouchard of Canada for a place in the semi-finals.
Suarez Navarro, who won her first WTA title on clay at Oeiras in Porugal in April, led from the start against 21-year-old Tomljanovic, who defeated third seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the previous round.
But she struggled to put the match away in the ninth game of the second set, saving three break-back points before finally putting the match away when the Croat netted a forehand drive.
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