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Ruthless Simona Halep powers into round 4 at the French Open

54 minutes was all it took for Simona Halep to book her place in the 4th round of the French Open...
Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

18.32 2 Oct 2020


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Ruthless Simona Halep powers i...

Ruthless Simona Halep powers into round 4 at the French Open

Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

18.32 2 Oct 2020


Share this article


54 minutes was all it took for Simona Halep to book her place in the 4th round of the French Open. 

The women's top seed demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-1, and will next face Iga Swiatek of Poland.

Swiatek ended the wild card run of former world no.5 Eugenie Bouchard with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

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The win over Anisimova will be regarded as sweet revenge for Halep who lost in straight sets to the American in last year's quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

"I took the game in my hands," Halep said afterwards.

"Last year, I was very far from the court, and I played fairly short so [Anisimova] could play her game. When she has time and she has the ball in the right position, she is very, very dangerous and she plays great.

"So today I think I did a great job changing a little bit the tactic."

Third seed Elina Svitolina will face home favourite Caroline Garcia in round 4.

Svitolina was a straight sets winner over Ekaterina Alexandrova. While Garcia beat 16th seed Elise Mertens in three-sets.

Having dumped out Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka in successive rounds, the giant-killing run of Anna Karolina Schmiedlova came to an end on Friday.

The Russian was beaten 3-6, 2-6 by the Argentine qualifier, Nadia Podoroska.

Gaston makes history 

Hugo Gaston made a small piece of history at Roland Garros on Friday.

The world no.239 became the first man ranked outside the top 200 since 2002 to reach the French Open 4th round.

The 20-year old Frenchman beat 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in five-sets. Gaston was impudent enough to claim the decider 6-0.

His reward is a meeting with the US Open champion Dominic Thiem.

This year's third seed in Paris beat Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

"I didn't make many mistakes, it was a very good match," Thiem said on court afterwards.

"Casper is a very good player and we had some nice rallies. He has a lot of confidence after semi-final runs in Rome and Hamburg, and had a very good attitude from beginning to the end.

"I didn't want to give him any chances in the third set."

Rafa Nadal continued his economical run to the 4th round. The three-time defending champion lost just five games in his match with the Italian Stefano Travaglia.

Nadal will play Sebastian Korda - son of Petr - in the next round.


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Bruno Gaston Dominic Thiem French Open Halep Nadal Rafa Nadal Roland Garros Simona Halep Stan Wawrinka Tennis

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