“I’m not saying we should be super careful about every insect and animal, but (you) just don’t need to murder a poor insect because it’s bothering you”, she said after beating Venus Williams in fourth round. Serena played some of the best tennis she played all tournament, as she had just 17 unforced errors and looked fresh due to so many rain delays.
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She was the runner-up to her sister Serena at Roland Garros in 2002, but her most recent trip to the quarterfinals in Paris came in 2006.
The Ukrainian showed her frustration as the glimpses she had were snuffed out, with Williams saving seven of eight break points.
Svitolina soon learned, though, the more you throw at Williams, the more you get back.
1 Novak Djokovic became the first player to smash the $100 million prize money barrier when he reached the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut. “It’s what happens”, Williams said.
Williams and Svitolina had been on the schedule to play on both Monday and Tuesday and when they finally got on court the world No 1 wasted no time getting down to business. More rain followed Tuesday and allowed only two hours of play, sending the fourth-round matches on the top half of the women’s draw to be pushed back again.
Serena will take on another unexpected quarter-finalist in the shape of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who beat Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
As well as reaching her maiden semi-final at Roland Garros, Muguruza also racked up a 20th win of the 2016 season.
“She’s definitely an inspiration”, said Bacsinszky, who lost to Serena in last year’s French Open semifinals, “because if you see how long she is lasting as a tennis player, it’s something unbelievable”.
Earlier, in women’s fourth-round matches originally slated for Monday, No. 9 Venus Williams lost, while her sister, No. 1 Serena, won. On another cold and dank morning here at Roland Garros, the world No 1 needed just 62 minutes to beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1.
“Had I won the second set”, Gasquet lamented later, “it would have been a totally different match”.
“If I could play here every day of my life, I would do it”, said Bacsinszky, who will meet unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens next.
Thiem will face 12th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium, who completed another rain-interrupted fourth-round match with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Serena hopes to make the semifinals of a grand slam for the seventh straight time.
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“I thought I did well, for the most part, in a tough atmosphere”, said Murray, whose next opponent is defending champion Stan Wawrinka, a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) victor against 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
