Jabeur and Swiatek soar into French Open quarterfinals

Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur stayed on course for a maiden Grand Slam crown as she reached the French Open quarterfinals for the first time with a 6-3 6-1 victory over American Bernarda Pera on Monday night.

Jabeur said she hoped the romantic atmosphere of Paris will help her quest for a Grand Slam title.

“Paris is always romantic, day or night. Winning here will definitely be an amazing memory for me," said Jabeur, who became the first African player to reach the quarters at each of the four majors in the Open Era.

The Tunisian had reached the Australian Open quarterfinal in 2020 and finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon and US Open title clashes last year.

The 28-year-old is not getting complacent ahead of her clash with 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3) 6-3 7-5 to become the first Brazilian woman since Maria Bueno in 1968 to make the quarterfinals of a major.

“For now, I just want to take it one match at a time," added Jabeur. “I will have a very difficult quarterfinal. I was just taking it one match at a time, trying to make it to the second week. Now I'm going to push more for the next few matches."

Casper Ruud continued his bid to reach back-to-back finals by fending off Chile's Nicolas Jarry in a 7-6(3) 7-5 7-5 fourth-round win. He next meets Holger Rune in a rematch of last year's quarterfinal after the Dane got a helping hand from the umpire with a missed but glaring double bounce to battle past Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(3) 3-6 6-4 1-6 7-6(7).

Alexander Zverev hardly broke sweat in the night session to seal a 6-1 6-4 6-3 win over Bulgarian 28th seed Grigor Dimitrov and set up a showdown with Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Etcheverry reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6(8) 6-0 6-1 victory over Yoshihito Nishioka, the 27th seed.

Haddad Maia became only the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open era after Bueno and she got there in three hours and 51 minutes — the longest women's match of the tournament.

Last year's runner-up Coco Gauff outclassed Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5 6-2 in windy conditions to reach the quarters where she will face holder Iga Swiatek in a rematch of the 2022 final.

Poland's top seed Swiatek set up the blockbuster meeting when her ailing fourth-round opponent Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine retired while down 5-1 in the first set after she called on the trainer and had her blood pressure checked.

Russian Daria Kasatkina said she left the tournament with a sense of bitterness after being booed off by the crowd after her fourth-round defeat by Ukraine's Elina Svitolina on Sunday.

“Leaving Paris with a very bitter feeling. All these days, after every match I've played in Paris I always appreciated and thanked the crowd for their support and being there for the players," Kasatkina wrote on Twitter.

“But yesterday I was booed for just being respectful [about] my opponent's position not to shake hands. Me and Elina showed respect to each other after a tough match but leaving the court like that was the worst part of yesterday.

“Be better, love each other. Don't spread hate."

Reuters