PARIS, June 5 -- Romanian No. 3 seed Simona Halep faced little resistence from Carla Suarez Navarro as she won women's singles fourth round 6-1, 6-1, while the fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina came back from the brink of an elimination to beat Petra Martic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the 2017 French Open here on Monday.
Halep only needed an hour to secure a spot in the quarter-finals. She led 6-5 in the overall head-to-head record, but failed to nail a win on clay court against Navarro.
The Romanian, in an attempt to change the embarrassing record, struck a total of 19 winners against her Spanish opponent's five. She also had huge advantage in winning percentage on first and second serve.
"I played the best match here in Roland Garros against Carla, which always was a tough match. And on clay I never won against her, so it was a really good match. I think I played exactly what I had to," said Halep.
"I'm happy to be in the quarter-finals again. Next opponent will be a big challenge for me. I will give my best," she added.
"The result speaks for itself. She won in two straight sets, but it doesn't reflect the match as a whole. I have to say that she played a great match. She delivered shots with a lot of consistency," commented Navarro.
Svitolina, who recently clinched the title in Rome, lost the opening set 6-4, before taking on a 6-3 victory to force a decisive set.
The world No. 6 appeared to have some problems on her back, then her trainer came in to give some relief on her back.
Svitolina faced the threat of being knocked out from the tournament as she trailed 2-5, while making a powerful comeback into the match as she won the last five games, setting up a quarter-final clash with Halep.
"I was two points away from winning this match. I think she played extremely well in those moments, from 5-2, Love-30 down. I cannot say I did something wrong. I'm proud of myself for this match and for the whole tournament," Martic pointed out.