Sawt Falasteen - 'Hell of a match': Andreeva ousts Kasatkina to reach French Open quarters

The 18-year-old, seeded sixth at Roland Garros, sealed a 6-3, 7-5 win in one hour 34 minutes against Russian-born Australian Kasatkina, ranked 17.

She next plays either third-ranked American Jessica Pegula or France's last remaining player in Paris, Lois Boisson, for a place in the semi-finals.

"It was a hell of a match," said Andreeva, who suffered a tearful loss to Kasatkina in the Ningbo final last year in China.

"Honestly I'm so so happy I won, I hate playing against her, we practise a lot and even practice is a torture for me."

Andreeva came from 5-3 down in the second set and saved one set point on her way to her second Grand Slam quarter-final.

She converted four of seven break points and becomes the youngest player to reach back-to-back Roland Garros quarter-finals since Martina Hingis in 1997-98.

Andreeva reached the semi-final last year with a shock quarter-final win over Aryna Sabalenka.

She is hoping for another strong performance at Roland Garros, with both Sabalenka and reigning champion Iga Swiatek in the other half of the draw.

H.Darwish--SF-PST