Roland-Garros: Muchova makes quarter-finals, takes out lucky loser Avanesyan

Karolina Muchova declared herself “on a roll” after she won against Russian lucky loser Elina Avanesyan 6-4, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros.

Muchova, ranked No 43, will play Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.

This is Muchova’s fourth Grand Slam quarter-final, but first at Roland-Garros; her previous quarter-finals were at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2021, and the Australian Open in 2021.

Muchova: It means a lot

“It means a lot [to reach the quarter-finals],” she said in her press conference afterwards. “It’s not my favourite surface, but I think I can play good on it. We worked a lot with my team. And again, with the matches I got in Rome and under the belt, it was great matches, even though I lost in fourth round [to Paula Badosa], still it was a good performance.

“We tried to build on that. I brought it here to Paris. Started well. Yeah, since then I’m a little bit on the roll and I’m glad that it goes this way. It was kind of our goal for me to be seeded in Wimbledon, to make the points on the clay. I think I’m getting closer at least.”

Ahead of her victory, the Czech beat Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 8 seed (7-6 (5), 7-5), Argentinian Nadia Podoroska (6-3, 0-6, 6-3) and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the No 27 seed (6-3, 6-2).

Avanesyan, ranked No 134, defeated Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 12 seed (6-3, 2-6, 6-4), French wildcard Leolia Jeanjean (6-0, 7-5) and Dane qualifier Clara Tauson (3-6, 6-1, 7-5) in the previous rounds of the French Open.

Paris (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs. Coco Gauff
• Iga Swiatek vs. Lesia Tsurenko
• Bernarda Pera vs. Ons Jabeur
• Sara Sorribes Tormo vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Sloane Stephens vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Elina Svitolina vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Elise Mertens (28): 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3