Last 16 action was the order of the day on Monday with two women’s matches up first on the top two courts. The match on Philippe Chatrier was over in exactly an hour as Simona Halep recorded her first ever win over Carla Suárez Navarro on clay, soaring into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-1 victory. Halep’s participation at Roland Garros had been somewhat uncertain pre-tournament due to an ankle injury picked up in Rome. Match-by-match, Halep has looked more and more assured and she’s into the last eight without dropping a set. Now the favourite?

Carla is so nice.

Simona talked about on-court coaching with Darren Cahill and the ankle in an interview with Tennis Channel.

The match opening up proceedings on Suzanne Lenglen court couldn’t have been more different to the one on Chatrier as Elina Svitolina clung onto her position in the draw, recovering from *2-5 *0-30 in the third set and two points from going out to overcome Petra Martic, 4-6 6-3 7-5. I tuned in during my lunch break at *2-5 *30-30 with Svitolina winning 20 of the last 24 points.

Martic did get tight and looked inhibited towards the end but credit to Svitolina who stepped up her game and found the forehand. An ace to set up match points was also handy. Winning a match like this, not playing at her best, was impressive from Svitolina, who spoke about an injury in her post-match interview and press.

And a big hearty applause for Petra Martic. A real shame for her that she couldn’t close out the win but what a sensational tournament. I would guess she should be in qualifying for Wimbledon?

In the all-French fourth rounder, Caroline Garcia held her nerve for the most part to reach a first Slam quarter-final. The 23-year-old had played a fine match for a set and a half against an out-of-sorts and strapped-up, Alizé Cornet. In a rather painful ending, Garcia was unable to serve out the match at *5-3, double faulting in rather spectacular fashion. Cornet though chucked in a few double faults of her own serving to stay in it with Garcia breaking for the win, 6-2 6-4.

After all that has been said following the Fed Cup drama, props to both for a really classy handshake.

And finishing just a few minutes later, Karolina Pliskova reached her third consecutive Slam quarter-final with a hard fought win over surprise package, Veronica Cepede Royg, 2-6 6-3 6-4. The third set could have gone either way but Pliskova scrapped well, as she has done for most of 2017, and saved a break point at *3-4 before winning the last three games of the match.

Much like the tournament for Pliskova, nowhere near her best but she found a way to win. A great effort though from Cepede Royg.

The last eight for RG17 is now set!

Now we know the eight quarter-finalists, who you got? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

In terms of who I WANT to win, Bacsinszky all the way.

In terms of who I THINK will win, now my two finalists are out, i’m going for a Halep vs. Mladenovic final with Halep as champ.

I still think it’s very wide open and i’m excited to see who comes through. I think it’s a quality QF line-up and there are no dud match-ups.

 

The first pair of quarter-finals are up on Tuesday – Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jelena Ostapenko and Kristina Mladenovic vs. Timea Bacsinszky. Previews for both matches are linked below.

Here is the latest column by Kristina Mladenovic for Sport 360 where she talks more about her doubles partnership with Caroline Garcia.

A video of Muguruza’s press conference yesterday is including in the post linked below by Tennis Now.

And finally, Lucie and Beth had a great win in doubles over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kristina Mladenovic. They are into the quarter-finals where they will play Francesca Schiavone and Kirsten Flipkens.

Follow Moo’s Tennis Blog on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram