Sharapova and Muguruza reach 4th round at French Open
Russia’s Maria Sharapova, left, shakes ahands to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic after their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, June 2, 2018 in Paris. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
PARIS — Former champion Maria Sharapova reached the fourth round of the French Open with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win against Karolina Pliskova on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Russian, seeded 28th after missing this tournament the last two years, needed 59 minutes to win on Court Philippe Chatrier. She broke serve five times against the sixth-seeded Czech.
Sharapova, who has won two of her five majors at Roland Garros, could next face Serena Williams in what would be their 22nd career meeting.
Williams was in action later Saturday against 11th-seeded Julia Goerges, her toughest test yet since returning to Grand Slam tennis after giving birth. They were scheduled to play in the afternoon on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Third-seeded Garbine Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion, also impressed on the main court. She needed just over one hour to beat Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-0, 6-2.
Sloane Stephens also advanced to the fourth round, but the 10th-seeded American had a much more difficult time beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi 4-6, 6-1, 8-6. Stephens next faces Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, who won 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4) against No. 8-seeded Petra Kvitova.
There was another upset as unseeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko defeated 19th-seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-4.
Top-seeded Simona Halep later faced Andrea Petkovic of Germany on the new Court 18.
In men’s third-round action, unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov completed a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win against 15th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France. Their match was suspended for rain late Friday.
Fabio Fognini beat Kyle Edmund 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Maximilian Marterer won 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 against Jurgen Zopp.
Rafael Nadal was up later on Chatrier, targeting a 16th consecutive win against Richard Gasquet. The top-ranked Spaniard is trying to win a record-extending 11th title at Roland Garros.
