Top-seeded Simona Halep maintained her steady progress through the French Open draw when she beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 7-5 6-0 to reach the fourth round on Saturday.

Relegated to the new Court 18 for the day, the Romanian, who has twice lost in the final at Roland Garros, including last year, had to battle for an hour to take the opening set but sped through the second with a minimum of fuss.

Petkovic, a semi-finalist in 2014 but now ranked 107, needed treatment on her right knee at the start of the second set and was no match for the twice runner-up.

Halep finished it off with a clinical backhand winner and now meets 16th-seeded Elise Mertens, who put out Australia’s Daria Gavrilova on Saturday.

Home hope Caroline Garcia suffered some late jitters but produced an impressive performance to beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-1 6-3 and reach the last 16.

The seventh seed played neatly throughout, committing only 13 unforced errors — three times less than in the previous round — to set up a meeting with German Angelique Kerber or Belgian Kiki Bertens.

American 10th seed Sloane Stephens is through to the fourth round for a fifth time in her seven visits to Roland Garros.

The US Open champion beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 4-6 6-1 8-6 and now plays Anett Kontaveit, the 25th-seeded Estonian who advanced by beating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4).

Russian two-time champion Maria Sharapova continued her charge, the 28th seed belting former top-ranked Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-1 to stay on track for a possible fourth-round showdown with Serena Williams.