Caroline Wozniacki moved a step closer to erasing an unwanted footnote from the list of her tennis achievements with victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the French Open fourth round.
Wozniacki is that rare beast: a twice year-end world No.1 tennis player who has never won a grand slam.
There have been others but none who reigned so long at world No.1 – 67 weeks – without success on the grand slam stage.
On Sunday the Dane beat Kuznetsova, a player with two grand slam titles in the bag but who has never scaled the women’s rankings to the very top.
The 6-1 4-6 6-2 victory eased Wozniacki into the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, matching her best performance here in 2010.
“Obviously it’s just kind of clicking this week,” Wozniacki smiled as she spoke to reporters.
“Hopefully I can keep going this way. Now I just try and stay focused and keep my head down.”
Wozniacki streaked into the lead on a sun-baked Philippe Chatrier court, running away with the first set as 2009 champion Kuznetsova struggled with her range.
Eighth-seed Kuznetsova soon struck back to level matters, using her weight of shot to overpower the Dane.
The 11th seed, her luminous green racquet a rapier to Kuznetsova’s broadsword, eased into a 3-0 lead but after a few meaty swings Kuznetsova broke back.
It was only a temporary reprieve for the Russian, though, and Wozniacki reasserted her control, pummelling a two-fisted backhand down the line to win the match, before firing a ball into the upper tier of the stands.
“Yeah, it was definitely a good win,” she said. “Svetlana obviously plays really well on this surface. I knew it was going to be a tough match going in.
“I started off really, really well. My game plan was working and kind of kept her on her toes with putting in some drop shots and mixing up the pace.”
Wozniacki next faces Jelena Ostapenko for a spot in the semi-finals after the Latvian youngster beat an injured Sam Stosur 2-6 6-2 6-4.
Stosur unable to recover from a hand injury and crashing out of the tournament that had seemed to give her a good chance of claiming a second grand slam title.