Paris, Jun 3 (IANS): Simona Halep held off Sloane Stephens of the US 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the French Open Monday.
Halep, 22, will now appear in her first-ever French Open quarterfinal. She reached her first Grand Slam last eight at this year's Australian Open, Xinhua reported.
"I managed very well the match. I opened the angles. I wanted to let her run a lot on court. I think I played aggressive and dominated the match," she said.
The fourth-seeded Romanian, the highest-remaining seed, will play the winner between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Lucie Safarova.
Meanwhile, 10th seed Italian Sara Errani landed a bevy of drop shots to send packing sixth-seeded former US Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in just under two hours.
Her next opponent will be 28th-seeded German and former top-10 star Andrea Petkovic, who came from behind to beat Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.