French Open 2017: Caroline Wozniacki defeats Svetlana Kuznetsove to reach quarter-finals at Roland Garros

Paris: Caroline Wozniacki reached the French Open quarter-finals for the first time in seven years on Sunday with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Danish 11th seed Wozniacki, who made her only other last-eight appearance in Paris in 2010, faces either Australia’s Samantha Stosur or Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia for a semi-final place.

“Svetlana’s a great player, especially on clay so I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said the 26-year-old after her eighth win in 14 meetings against the Russian.

Sunday’s clash was their first on clay.

“I played a great first set but I still knew I had to stay cool and aggressive.”

The 11th-seeded Wozniacki is a two-time runner-up at majors.

She played her typically safe style for much of the match, winding up with 15 fewer unforced errors than No 8 Kuznetsova. Wozniacki also broke in half of Kuznetsova’s 12 service games.

Wozniacki missed the 2016 French Open because of an ankle injury. She lost in the first or second round each of the previous three years.

With inputs from AFP and AP