PARIS, June 2: Defending champion Garbine Muguruza reached the fourth round of the French Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kazakhstan�s Yulia Putintseva, while Rafael Nadal produced a brilliant display to beat Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday.
With pregnant Serena Williams absent, Maria Sharapova denied an invitation and top seed Angelique Kerber a first-round casualty, familiar faces are relatively thin on the ground in Paris, and Muguruza�s win over the Kazakh was greeted warmly by fans on the Philippe Chatrier court.
The Spaniard has had a patchy year so far and is seeking to regain the form that enabled her to secure her first Grand Slam title in Paris last year. The fourth seed took a tight first set that featured seven breaks of serve but improved in the second set. Muguruza, 23, will face Shelby Rogers or Kristina Mladenovic in the last 16.
�I�m happy I went out there without any kind of fear,� said Muguruza. �I wanted the match. I tried to just do what I had to do and keep that during the whole match.
�The more matches I play and the tougher victories gives you self-confidence, a successful feeling out there.
�It�s important with all the three matches that I played they were not easy at all.�
Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal secured a convincing 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 victory against Basilashvili of Georgia.
The fourth seed needed only 90 minutes to see off the Georgian and secure his place in the fourth round in Paris. Nadal, 31 on Saturday, has now won 98 of 100 matches he has played in best-of-five clay-court matches. The Spaniard is bidding to become the first player in the Open era � and only the second in history � to win 10 titles at any Grand Slam event.
Margaret Court is the only player to have won 10 or more titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973.
Reigning champion Novak Djokovic faces Argentine Diego Schwartzmann later.
Nadal won the first set in 23 minutes and won the next five games before world number 63 Basilashvili finally got on the scoreboard. The Spaniard wrapped up the set by winning the next game and clinched victory with a storm threatening to interrupt play. The 14-time Grand Slam champion will face compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.
Nadal has a 75-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros with his only defeats coming against Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals.
Fifth seed Milos Raonic reached the last 16 for the second year in a row after Spanish veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired at the start of the second set with a thigh muscle injury.
Raonic, the world number six, cruised through the first set 6-1 in 21 minutes and led 1-0 in the second when the Spaniard retired at the changeover after a brief exchange with his opponent.
�He told me he had dealt with this in his first rounds. He was happy to have gone through the first two matches and he could not bear it any more,� Raonic told reporters.
The 26-year-old Canadian, who will next face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, had been struggling with an injury himself earlier this season and said he was happy not to have played longer even though it was unfortunate how it had come about.
�I take it when I can have it. I have played a lot in the last weeks. I made good progress and am getting better and better,� he said.
Earlier in the year, Raonic pulled out of the Delray Beach final due to a hamstring injury and he also withdrew from Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Belgian 10th seed David Goffin was forced to retire from his third-round encounter against Argentine Horacio Zeballos after slipping and hurting his ankle.
The in-form Goffin, ranked 12th in the world, was leading 5-4 in the first set when Zeballos, who had earned his first break point, forced him to the edge of the court near a cover with a deep groundstroke. Goffin, a semifinalist in Monte Carlo this year, managed to get to the ball, lifting a lob over the Argentine but slipped in the process, hurting his ankle.
Medical staff rushed on and helped him off the court for a medical check. The umpire announced minutes later that the 26-year-old was forced to retire. Zeballos, 32, who is through to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time, will now play the winner of the match between sixth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria and American Steve Johnson. � Agencies
PARIS, June 2: Defending champion Garbine Muguruza reached the fourth round of the French Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kazakhstan�s Yulia Putintseva, while Rafael Nadal produced a brilliant display to beat Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday.
With pregnant Serena Williams absent, Maria Sharapova denied an invitation and top seed Angelique Kerber a first-round casualty, familiar faces are relatively thin on the ground in Paris, and Muguruza�s win over the Kazakh was greeted warmly by fans on the Philippe Chatrier court.
The Spaniard has had a patchy year so far and is seeking to regain the form that enabled her to secure her first Grand Slam title in Paris last year. The fourth seed took a tight first set that featured seven breaks of serve but improved in the second set. Muguruza, 23, will face Shelby Rogers or Kristina Mladenovic in the last 16.
�I�m happy I went out there without any kind of fear,� said Muguruza. �I wanted the match. I tried to just do what I had to do and keep that during the whole match.
�The more matches I play and the tougher victories gives you self-confidence, a successful feeling out there.
�It�s important with all the three matches that I played they were not easy at all.�
Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal secured a convincing 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 victory against Basilashvili of Georgia.
The fourth seed needed only 90 minutes to see off the Georgian and secure his place in the fourth round in Paris. Nadal, 31 on Saturday, has now won 98 of 100 matches he has played in best-of-five clay-court matches. The Spaniard is bidding to become the first player in the Open era � and only the second in history � to win 10 titles at any Grand Slam event.
Margaret Court is the only player to have won 10 or more titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973.
Reigning champion Novak Djokovic faces Argentine Diego Schwartzmann later.
Nadal won the first set in 23 minutes and won the next five games before world number 63 Basilashvili finally got on the scoreboard. The Spaniard wrapped up the set by winning the next game and clinched victory with a storm threatening to interrupt play. The 14-time Grand Slam champion will face compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.
Nadal has a 75-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros with his only defeats coming against Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals.
Fifth seed Milos Raonic reached the last 16 for the second year in a row after Spanish veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired at the start of the second set with a thigh muscle injury.
Raonic, the world number six, cruised through the first set 6-1 in 21 minutes and led 1-0 in the second when the Spaniard retired at the changeover after a brief exchange with his opponent.
�He told me he had dealt with this in his first rounds. He was happy to have gone through the first two matches and he could not bear it any more,� Raonic told reporters.
The 26-year-old Canadian, who will next face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, had been struggling with an injury himself earlier this season and said he was happy not to have played longer even though it was unfortunate how it had come about.
�I take it when I can have it. I have played a lot in the last weeks. I made good progress and am getting better and better,� he said.
Earlier in the year, Raonic pulled out of the Delray Beach final due to a hamstring injury and he also withdrew from Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Belgian 10th seed David Goffin was forced to retire from his third-round encounter against Argentine Horacio Zeballos after slipping and hurting his ankle.
The in-form Goffin, ranked 12th in the world, was leading 5-4 in the first set when Zeballos, who had earned his first break point, forced him to the edge of the court near a cover with a deep groundstroke. Goffin, a semifinalist in Monte Carlo this year, managed to get to the ball, lifting a lob over the Argentine but slipped in the process, hurting his ankle.
Medical staff rushed on and helped him off the court for a medical check. The umpire announced minutes later that the 26-year-old was forced to retire. Zeballos, 32, who is through to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time, will now play the winner of the match between sixth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria and American Steve Johnson. � Agencies
