Simona Halep has underlined her French Open title credentials with a clinical dispatch of tournament dark horse Elise Mertens.
The world No.1 and two-time Roland Garros runner-up swept into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-1 fourth-round win over Mertens on Monday.
Runner-up to Jelena Ostapenko last year and to Maria Sharapova in 2014, Halep needed less than an hour to see off a rival boasting three trophies in 2018 plus a 12-win streak this season on clay.
The top seed will play either Angelique Kerber in a rematch of her epic Australian Open semi-final win over the German or France’s last hope, seventh seed Caroline Garcia, for a spot in the last four.
Halep joins US Open champion Sloane Stephens, another American Madison Keys and unseeded Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the quarter-finals in Paris.
Unlike her third-round escape against Camila Giorgi, Stephens never gave Anett Kontaveit a sniff, winning the last 11 games to reach the quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-2 6-0 demolition of the Estonian.
Stephens had fallen at the fourth hurdle five times previously but needed just 52 minutes to break through and complete a grand slam set of quarter-final showings in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
“Super cool. Isn’t it exciting?” she said.
“Obviously doing well at any slam, making the fourth round four times or whatever is pretty good, but to finally get over that hump of quarter-finals feels very nice.”
Runner-up to Stephens at Flushing Meadows last year, Keys was the first woman through to the quarters after ending Mihaela Buzarnescu’s inspired run with a 6-1 6-4 victory over the Romanian.
The 13th-seeded Keys, who is yet to drop a set, plays Putintseva next after the Kazakh youngster upset Czech 26th seed Barbora Strycova 6-4 6-3 to advance to the final eight for the second time in three years.
Second-seeded Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki will resume her fourth-round match against Daria Kasatkina later on Monday after fading light on Sunday night forced a suspension of play.
Wozniacki was trailing the Russian 14th seed 7-6 (7-5) 3-3 and just three games from elimination when officials ushered the pair off court.
Three-time champion Serena Williams can make it three Americans in the last eight if she beats Maria Sharapova in their spicy fourth-round affair later on Monday.
