Svitolina breezes past Garcia into quarter-finals

PARIS (Reuters) - Third seed Elina Svitolina ended the run of local hope Caroline Garcia in the French Open with a comfortable 6-1 6-3 win on Sunday to move into her third quarter-final at Roland Garros.

On a day that the women's draw lost top seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Kiki Bertens, Svitolina, who reached the last eight in 2015 and 2017, put in a solid performance to be the highest-ranked player remaining in the claycourt Grand Slam.

Garcia had come from a set and a break down to win her past three meetings against fellow 26-year-old Svitolina, but there was no such repeat as the Ukrainian broke her opponent's serve six times to complete victory in just 63 minutes.

Svitolina converted six of her 13 breakpoint opportunities as Garcia struggled with her serve on a windy day at Court Philippe Chatrier.

Garcia, who also reached the last eight at her home Grand Slam, only managed to hold serve twice in the match.

The Ukrainian hit six winners less than Garcia but was much more disciplined, making 20 fewer unforced errors than her opponent.

"Definitely, it was not easy for both of us," Svitolina said in her courtside interview.

"I think it was really important to get into the consideration that it's really windy and try to adjust the game as quick as possible and the person who adjusted the quickest would win, so I'm happy that it's me today."

Svitolina converted her first match point when Garcia sent a forehand wide, and she will play Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska, who defeated Czech Barbora Krejcikova 2-6 6-2 6-3, for a place in the semi-finals.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ed Osmond)