World News – UA – Kenin dominates Bara to reach last 16

American fourth seed Sofia Kenin stormed the fourth round of Roland Garros with a 6-2 6-0 demolition of Romanian qualifier Irina Bara

The Australian Open champion lost the first two games before powering up and winning the remaining 12 to reach the last 16 at Roland Garros for the second time

Bara grabbed his chances from the start and beat for 2-0, but his hopes for a major upset were cut short as Kenin shook his precocious nervousness to advance

She only struggled to finish on her own serve, with most of her drop shot attempts embarrassingly failing

Kenin could face a Romanian player for the third consecutive round if Patricia Maria Tig defeats France’s Fiona Ferro later on Saturday

The top players in the draw appeared determined to make a statement as the tournament heats up

Dutch Kiki Bertens showed no ill effects from her brutal French campaign by beating Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-2

Fifth-seeded Bertens saved a match point and was overcome by cramps following her win over Sara Errani on Wednesday, leaving the pitch in agony sitting in a wheelchair

She had also struggled against Katarina Zavatska in the first round and had spent over five hours in the field, so she was grateful to get past error-prone Sinialova in 58 minutes.

Bertens was particularly impressive on serve, scoring 81% of her first serves in the first set, giving Siniakova few chances to enter the game

Earlier, seed Simona Halep produced a ruthless performance to dismiss American Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-1 in 54 minutes

France were more elated as Caroline Garcia fought from behind and needed six match points before knocking out Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens 1-6 6-4 7-5

The Frenchwoman, who reached the quarter-finals in 2017, meets third seed Elina Svitolina after the 26-year-old Ukrainian eats Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5 6-4

Anisimova knocked out Halep from last year’s quarter-finals when the Romanian was the defending champion in his very first Grand Slam meeting on clay

« I took the game in my own hands, » said Halep, who will then face Poland’s Iga Swatiek in the next phase after sending Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-2

« Last year I was very far from the field and played short enough that she could play her game. When she has time and she has the ball in the right position, she is very dangerous and she plays very well I think I did a great job « said Halep

Kiki Bertens, French Open, Kateřina Siniaková, Sara Errani