Teenager Coco Gauff downed veteran Kaia Kanepi in a clash of the generations to reach the fourth round of the French Open with a 6-3 6-4 victory on Saturday (NZ time).
The 18-year-old American, who was still a toddler when Estonian Kanepi, 36, played the first of two quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2008, will next face Belgian 31st seed Elise Mertens.
"I knew it was going be a tough match," said Gauff, who achieved her best Grand Slam result when she made it to the quarter-finals here last year.
"(She) beat (former champion Garbine) Murugza in the first round... I knew today would be close,"
"I've been coming to France since I was 10 and trained at the Mouratoglou academy so I guess it makes me maybe not a claycourt expert, but not bad at it," the youngest player still in the draw said.
Kanepi, by contrast the oldest player left in the women's singles, broke in the first game but Gauff struck back emphatically, winning the next five games with a flurry of winners on court Suzanne Lenglen.
Kanepi pulled a break back for 5-2 and kept the 18th seed on her toes, as she followed by holding her serve.
Gauff wrapped up the set in the next game, when her opponent sent a backhand long.
Gauff advanced to 2-0 in the second set, before Kanepi, making the most of the American's increasing number of unforced errors, turned the tables to take a 3-2 lead.
Kanepi's hopes of a comeback were short-lived, as she dropped serve again when she buried an easy backhand into the net, after a poorly-executed drop shot from Gauff.
Serving at 4-3, the teenager held and closed out the match on serve in the set's 10th game when Kanepi made her 29th unforced error.
US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez edged Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 7-5 3-6 7-5, after a see-saw battle to reach the French Open fourth round for the first time.
The only other time the Canadian left-hander made the second week of a major was on her run to the final at Flushing Meadows last year, where she lost to fellow teenager Emma Raducanu.
The 19-year-old Fernandez, who won the girls' title three years ago at the claycourt Grand Slam, saved two set points before winning the marathon first set in 62 minutes and had to rally from an early break down in the decider against the Swiss.
"It was an incredible fight," the 17th seed, who faces American Amanda Anisimova for a last-eight spot, said afterwards.
"I think today I was just trusting my game when it mattered the most, and I'm just glad that I was able to trust it enough for me to keep going and keep executing the game plan."
The 14th-seeded Bencic, who won the women's singles gold in Tokyo, hit more winners and committed fewer unforced errors than her opponent in the opening match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
But Fernandez raised her level when it mattered most and, after breaking serve in the 11th game of the decider, held her serve to love to seal the contest in two hours 49 minutes.
The Canadian managed to win a WTA 250 title in Monterrey, Mexico, at the beginning of March but her ride since making the US Open final has been rocked and marked by numerous defeats.
"I have lost a lot of matches to get here," she said. "So I think every match, what's good about my team and I, we were able to use it as a learning experience to see where I can improve and what I'm doing good too.
"It's just the ability to keep learning from every match that we have that helps put me in a position where I can say that I'll just need to trust my game and just fight for every point."
Meanwhile, twice Grand Slam champion Viktoria Azarenka slumped out after Swiss 23rd seed Jil Teichmann battled from a set down to win 4-6 7-5 7-6(5) and secure a spot in the fourth round.
The Belarusian 32-year-old former world No. 1, seeded 15th in Paris, powered from 3-0 down at the start of the first set and then again from 4-3 behind to win the next three straight games to secure the opening set.
Azarenka looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory when she broke Teichmann to go 4-2 up in the second, with her powerful baseline play and continuous drop shots dictating the game.
But in a reversal of the opening set, it was the 24-year-old Swiss left-hander's turn to battle back, mixing it up and clinching five of the next six games to force a decider.
Teichmann kept up the pressure and, after the pair traded two breaks each, won the tiebreak following more than three hours to reach a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time.
Reuters.
