French Open: Gauff quells Alexandrova to reach QF; Andreeva saves set point against Kasatkina

Paris, June 2 (IANS) Second Seed Coco Gauff and sixth-ranked Mirra Andreeva scored fighting wins in the women's singles Round of 16 to book quarterfinal places in the French Open here on Monday.

Gauff, the 21-year-old American, held off a determined attempt for a fightback by No. 20 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5 in 1 hour and 22 minutes to advance to her fifth consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal.

In another Round of 16 clash, Andreeva, a semifinalist in Paris last year, overcame Australia's Daria Kasatkina, the 17th seed here, fought back from 5-3 down in the second set and saved one set point to advance 6-3, 7-5 and made her second Grand Slam quarterfinal.

With this, the 18-year-old Andreeva became the youngest player to reach back-to-back quarterfinals at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis in 1997-98. She has yet to drop a set -- or even concede more than five games in any set -- en route to the last eight, where she will next face either No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula or wild card Lois Boisson.

The 21-year-old also set a record, becoming the fourth-youngest player in the Open Era to reach a fifth straight quarterfinal at the French Open, following 20-year-old Martina Hingis (1997-2001), 20-year-old Stefanie Graf (1986-1990) and 21-year-old Conchita Martínez (1989-1993).

Gauff lost in the second round to Martina Trevisan on her main-draw debut in 2020 but has made at least the last eight in Paris every year since -- including a run to her first Grand Slam final in 2022.

Gauff advanced to her ninth major quarterfinal overall. Having compiled a 13-5 record on hard courts through the first three months of 2025, she has continued to find her groove on clay, where she is now 15-3 and counting this season after making back-to-back finals in Madrid and Rome.

Gauff will bid to reach her fifth Grand Slam semifinal against either No. 7 seed Madison Keys or Hailey Baptiste.

On Monday, she started with a one-sided opening set. Alexandrova was undone by 15 unforced errors to only three winners in the first set. The 30-year-old won just five points in the first five games of the match, though Gauff had to navigate seven deuces in the sixth before converting her third set point.

Alexandrova upped her level in a highly competitive second set, pegging Gauff back from a breakdown. But the American was more solid at its conclusion, reeling off 12 of the last 16 points of the match.

Alexandrova committed to hanging with Gauff in longer exchanges while staying on the front foot, resulting in several superb line-to-line rallies. Gauff's ability to find winning shots on the run still gave her the edge, and despite her forehand showing signs of wobbling -- she had to save the first two break points of the set in the fourth game -- a pair of backhand winners garnered her the first break for 4-3.

Alexandrova found a series of spectacular forehands in the next two games to hit back, but leading 5-4, she failed to take advantage of two Gauff double faults. The errors of the first set returned, and Gauff eased through the home stretch. Gauff now holds a 4-1 head-to-head lead against Alexandrova.

--IANS

bsk/