Impressive Putintseva stuns Strycova to reach Paris quarters

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva reacts during her fourth round match against Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova in French Open on Sunday, 3 June, 2018. Photo: REUTERS

PARIS: Kazakh youngster Yulia Putintseva continued her impressive run at the French Open as she beat 26th seed Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4 6-3 in the fourth round on Sunday.

World number 98 Putintseva showed off her wide range of shot-making skills to break Strycova twice in the early exchanges before serving out the opening set in 52 minutes.

Strycova, who was making her first fourth-round appearance in Paris, struggled to find her rhythm and continued to spray the court with unforced errors as Putintseva raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set.

The 23-year-old dropped her serve in the next game but did enough to see off a late challenge from Strycova and wrap up the victory on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Putintseva, who also defeated British number one Johanna Konta in the opening round, has matched her best performance at Roland Garros by reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016.

“Today I was very tough mentally,” she said after the match.

“It was a fourth-round match and everyone is play good now. You just have to fight for every point.”

Up next for Putintseva is US Open runner-up and 13th seed Madison Keys, who is yet to drop a single set over four matches in the tournament.