French Open: Kasatkina storms past Giorgi to reach quarterfinals

Paris: No.20 seed Russian Daria Kasatkina continued her ruthless form at Roland Garros, defeating No.28 seed Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the French Open quarterfinals here on Monday.

Former World No.10 Kasatkina has yet to drop a set and indeed has conceded just 14 games in four matches so far. She has only lost serve on two occasions – neither to Giorgi, against whom she saved all six breakpoints. The 25-year-old Kasatkina had not reached the second week of a Grand Slam since making back-to-back quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2018.

But having slumped to World No.71 by the end of 2020, she has essayed a resurgence over the past two years. In 2021, Kasatkina reached four WTA Tour finals, winning two of them; in Rome this month, she made her first WTA 1000 semifinal since 2018. Her season record is now 22-10.

Kasatkina improved her head-to-head against Giorgi to 2-0, having previously beaten the Italian in the 2020 Lyon quarterfinals. Giorgi, who snapped a seven-match losing streak at tour level at Roland Garros, falls to 1-3 in Grand Slam fourth rounds, but has now reached the second week of every major except the Australian Open. Kasatkina will next face either No.22 seed Madison Keys or No.29 seed Veronika Kudermetova as she bids to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.

Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez also entered quarterfinals for the first time defeating 2019 semifinalist Amanda Anisimova. It took one hour and 54 minutes for the Canadian to send packing her opponent 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Fernandez will next lock horns with



Martina Trevisan in the quarterfinals. Italian World No. 59 Martina Trevisan booked her place in the quarter-finals in a thrilling set win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (10), 7-5 on Sunday. The match lasted one hour and 59 minutes. This extended her winning streak to nine matches.

Earlier, American teenager Coco Gauff reached the quarterfinals for the second successive year with a straight-sets victory over Belgium”s Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-0.

The No. 6 seed Carlos Alcaraz stormed into the second Grand Slam quarterfinal of his young career with a commanding performance over Karen Khachanov on Sunday evening at the ongoing French Open 2022.

After quickly snatching up the first two sets, Alcaraz stayed calm as he was dragged into a battle by the No.21 seed in the third. The Spaniard reached his first Roland Garros quarterfinal with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win against 21st seed Karen Khachanov. The sixth seed will next play third seed Alexander Zverev for a place in his first major semifinal.

Veronika Kudermetova entered quarters for the first time with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Madison Keys, ending the chances of four American women reaching the last eight for the first time in two decades.

Keys, who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2018 and the quarterfinals the following year, dominated the opening set but lost rhythm after Kudermetova took a bathroom break before the second set.

She held and then broke Keys’ serve to take a 2-0 lead in the second, which she served out on her seventh set point.