Simona Halep has strolled into the third round of the French Open with a no-nonsense 6-4 6-3 victory against unheralded German Tatjana Maria.

The Romanian third seed, who reached the Roland Garros final in 2014, was far too strong for world No.102 Maria, who bowed out on the first match point.

Halep never seemed bothered by the ankle problem that could have ruled her out of the tournament.

She next faces Russian 26th seed Daria Kasatkina.

Second seed Karolina Pliskova joined Halep in the third round despite dropping the second set to Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei continued her dream run at Roland Garros with a strong win over Taylor Townsend.

Agnieszka Radwanska lived up to her nickname as the ‘Professor’ when she dug deep into her toolbox of tactics to repel tenacious qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck.

Radwanska, the world No.10, was taken by surprise in the first set by the aggressive Belgian, ranked 103 spots below her, but changed tactics and decided to mix it up to race through the second set before she prevailed 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-3 in two hours and 23 minutes.

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard was thrashed 6-3 6-0 by 17th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.

Local hope Alize Cornet upset the 20th-seeded Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4 6-1 to set up a meeting with Radwanska in round three.

The fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina had to claw her way back from a set down to beat former quarter-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Next up for Ukranian Svitolina in the third round is Magda Linette after the Pole eliminated Ana Konjuh, the 29th seed, 6-0 7-5.