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Reuters
Reuters
Sport

Highlights: French Open day six

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Spain's Garbine Muguruza in action during her third round match against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

(Reuters) - Highlights of the sixth day at the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Friday (all times GMT):

DAY SIX WRAPUP: Federer and Nadal blaze into fourth round

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Sloane Stephens of the U.S reacts after her third round match against Slovenia's Polona Hercog REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

1930 PLAY SUSPENDED DUE TO BAD LIGHT

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, held a 7-6(5) 7-6(4) lead over Grigor Dimitrov when play was suspended due to bad light.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Spain's Rafael Nadal in action during his third round match against Belgium's David Goffin REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

1756 STEPHENS SETS UP MUGURUZA CLASH

Sloane Stephens, last year's runner-up, produced a gritty display to quell the challenge of Polona Hercog as the American sealed a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory to book a fourth-round meeting with 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova reacts after her third round match against Belgium's Elise Mertens REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

1718 NADAL FENDS OFF GOFFIN

Holder Rafa Nadal, chasing a record-extending 12th singles title at Roland Garros, dropped a set to Belgium's David Goffin for the first time on clay before sealing a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Japan's Kei Nishikori in action during his third round match against Serbia's Laslo Djere. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

1536 NISHIKORI SURVIVES DJERE SCARE

Japan's Kei Nishikori, the seventh seed, ran into trouble in his clash with Serbia's Laslo Djere before edging a five-setter 6-4 6-7(6) 6-3 4-6 8-6 in four hours and 26 minutes.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 30, 2019. France's Lucas Pouille in action during his second round match against Slovakia's Martin Klizan. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

1503 FEDERER SHINES IN MILESTONE MATCH

Roger Federer became the first player to contest 400 Grand Slam matches and celebrated the feat by beating Norwegian 20-year-old Casper Ruud 6-3 6-1 7-6(8) in the third round.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Japan's Kei Nishikori in action during his third round match against Serbia's Laslo Djere. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Ruud's father Christian had competed at Roland Garros in 1999 when Federer made his debut in the tournament.

1410 FORMER CHAMPION MUGURUZA TOO GOOD FOR SVITOLINA

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 31, 2019. Croatia's Petra Martic gestures after her third round match against Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Spain's Garbine Muguruza blasted past ninth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3 to snap a run of three straight defeats by the big-hitting Ukrainian.

1347 TSURENKO BATTLES BIRTHDAY BLUES TO PROGRESS

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 27, 2019. Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in action during his first round match against Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko said fighting negative thoughts on her 30th birthday a day earlier was just as tough as her match with Aleksandra Krunic on Friday which she sealed with a 11-9 victory in the deciding third set.

"I think the main mental problem yesterday was that I had a birthday... I'm now 30, and I had so many things in my head that... it was one of the worst days of my life," she said.

"I thought I'll feel good, but I wasn't feeling well since two days ago. I start to think that I'm 30 and I don't have much time left to play on tour and all this bad things.

"And it was really tough mentally to play, and my body was not listening to me. And the only thing I wanted to do is to finish and quit that match. But... being a tennis player, at some point you think no, no, no. I'm going to fight."

1309 PAIRE THROUGH AS CARRENO BUSTA RETIRES

Frenchman Benoit Paire was leading 6-2 4-6 7-6(1) against Pablo Carreno Busta when his Spanish rival retired injured.

1228 BATTLING SEVASTOVA MOVES AHEAD

Anastasija Sevastova, seeded 12th, rallied past Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-7(3) 6-4 11-9 in a clash that lasted three hours and 18 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Also advancing to the next round were Lesia Tsurenko, who overcame Aleksandra Krunic 5-7 7-5 11-9, and Madison Keys, who beat Priscilla Hon 7-5 5-7 6-3.

1221 KLIZAN STOPS LOCAL HOPE POUILLE

Unseeded Martin Klizan outlasted Frenchman Lucas Pouille 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 3-6 9-7 in a contest that resumed on Friday after it was stopped due to fading light on Thursday. The Slovakian next faces 10th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia.

1034 MARTIC STUNS PLISKOVA IN STRAIGHT SETS

Croatia's Petra Martic eased past second seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-3 in the third round on Court Philippe-Chatrier to continue her fine form on clay this season with a 14th main-draw victory.

0910 PLAY BEGINS AT ROLAND GARROS

Play began under cloudy skies in Paris with the temperature hovering around 18 degrees Celsius. Showers are expected later in the evening.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar, Hardik Vyas and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman, Pritha Sarkar, Tony Lawrence and Toby Davis)

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