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Tsonga swirls past Troicki
French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga set up a potential clash with Roger Federer when he easily dispatched Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to book his place in the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday.
Tsonga, the last Frenchman to reach a grand slam final at the 2008 Australian Open, has yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year and sealed a straightforward win in one hour 45 minutes.
Tsonga, one of three still on course to become the first Frenchman to win a grand slam title since Yannick Noah at Roland Garros in 1983, has matched last year's performance in Paris where he was knocked out in the quarters by Novak Djokovic after wasting four match points.
"It's great to win again in three sets but in the following round it is going to be dreadful," Tsonga told a courtside interviewer.
Asked who he would prefer to take on next, Tsonga said: "Playing Roger here, you can't dream better.
Serena crushes doubles specialist Vinci
World number one Serena Williams reached the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time since 2010 with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over top-ranked doubles player Roberta Vinci on Sunday.
It was Williams' 28th straight victory and underlined her title potential as her superior power overwhelmed her Italian challenger.
She coped better with the blustery conditions on Philippe Chatrier Court and broke three times to take the first set.
Vinci, who has won three grand slam doubles titles with last year's French Open finalist Sara Errani, tried to move her opponent round the court to compensate for her lack of weapons, and put up a better fight in the second set.
But on the crucial points, she came up short and succumbed in one hour, 10 minutes.
Williams, who won her only Roland Garros title in 2002, will face another former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last eight.
Ferrer cuts Anderson down to size
Spain's David Ferrer cut Kevin Anderson down to size to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday, outclassing the towering South African to win 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
The fourth seed had reached the last 16 without dropping a set for the third straight year and Anderson never looked like worrying the 31-year-old dynamo in a one-sided contest.
Twenty-third seed Anderson, the first South African to reach the last 16 since Wayne Ferreira in 1996, possesses one of the biggest serves in the game but it made no impact on Ferrer who broke it at the first time of asking.
Ferrer, a semi-finalist here last year, gifted Anderson only 11 unforced errors in an immaculate performance and he will now face his third fellow Spaniard of the tournament so far, with Tommy Robredo beating Nicolas Almagro in five sets.
Kuznetsova through to last eight the old-fashioned way
Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova came out on top of a vintage claycourt tennis match as she outplayed German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to book her place in the quarter-finals of the French Open on Sunday.
The 2009 champion from Russia, who is not seeded at Roland Garros for the first time since 2003, set up a meeting with either world number one Serena Williams or Italian 15th seed Roberta Vinci.
World number 39 Kuznetsova prevailed after two hours 21 minutes of tennis featuring slides, drop shots and lung-burning rallies, far from the usual baseline-biffing contests in force in women's tennis.
After being broken, Kuznetsova won three games in a row to clinch the opening set with a service winner.
Kerber, however, levelled as she recovered from a break down to take the second set.
Kuznetsova appeared to be the fresher player after repeatedly sending her opponent to chase balls left and right, and she wrapped it up with a forehand winner down the line.
Iron man Robredo completes third great escape
Claycourt warrior Tommy Robredo came back from the brink yet again to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and reach the quarter-finals of the French Open on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Robredo looked down and out when he trailed by two sets and 4-1 on Suzanne Lenglen court but produced a stunning fightback to outlast the 11th seed 6-7(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 after a three-hour-49-minute baseline battle.
Robredo, whose career seemed in doubt last year when he missed five months because of leg surgery and dropped to 471 in the world rankings, was overcome with emotion at the end after a third successive victory from a two-set deficit.
Almagro edged a tough first set and his greater power looked set to give him his sixth win out of six against the former world number five and four-times French Open quarter-finalist.
Robredo, who saved four match points against local favourite Gael Monfils in the previous round, had not won a set off Almagro since their first meeting in 2007 but with nothing to lose he began to take greater risks.
His single-handed backhand, one of the most eye-catching in the game, began to find its range and suddenly it was Almagro who was being stretched in the baseline rallies.
Having levelled the match at two sets all, Robredo fell a break behind in the decider but he produced one final fightback to seal a memorable victory when Almagro netted a backhand volley.
Robredo faces more hard graft in the quarter-finals where he will play compatriot David Ferrer.