Bouchard eases into French Open quarterfinals

PARIS: Eugenie Bouchard raced into the French Open quarterfinals by beating eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in 52 minutes on Sunday.

The 18th-seeded Canadian wasted no time, opening up a 5-0 lead in 16 minutes. Bouchard, who reached the Australian Open semifinals this year, next plays either No. 14-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain or the unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic. They were playing later Sunday.

In the men´s fourth round, Tomas Berdych routed No. 10-seeded John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The sixth-seeded Czech next faces either 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, seeded fourth, or No. 18 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. They were playing their match later Sunday.

Kerber, a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros two years ago, made a string of unforced errors and Bouchard broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set when Kerber returned long from the back of the court.

With the top three women´s seeded players out, Maria Sharapova remains the favorite to win the tournament for the second time. The seventh-seeded Russian later played Samantha Stosur.

Trailing 5-2, Kerber played with the strings of her racket as she hunched forward on her chair, her head bowed. Bouchard, by contrast, sat upright, taking a few deep breaths to compose herself before serving out the match. She clinched victory on her first match point when Kerber — a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist — made another unforced error, this time as her wild forehand sailed out.

In men´s fourth-round action later Sunday, second-seeded Novak Djokovic was playing No. 13-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.In remaining third-round play, 12th-seeded Richard Gasquet lost 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to No. 24 Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

The Frenchman had a chance to break back to 4-4 in the third set, but sent a smash into the net as he was backpedalling. Verdasco then broke him before serving out the match.Seventh-seeded Andy Murray and No. 28 Philipp Kohlschreiber were resuming their match deep into a fifth set. (AP)