Tennis - Pliskova survives Paraguayan scare to reach last eight

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 5, 2017 Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova celebrates winning her fourth round match against Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg Reuters / Pascal Rossignol

PARIS (Reuters) - World number three Karolina Pliskova overcame an awful start to beat unheralded Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 2-6 6-3 6-4 on Monday to reach the French Open quarter-finals for the first time.

Cepede Royg, ranked 97th, had a break point while leading 4-3 in the decider, but Pliskova overcame that scare and won the remaining games.

Pliskova, the 2016 U.S. Open runner-up, will take on Caroline Garcia of France for a place in the semi-finals.

Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 5, 2017 Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova celebrates winning her fourth round match against Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg Reuters / Gonzalo Fuentes

Cepede Royg made an impressive start as she sprayed Court Suzanne Lenglen with winners but nerves eventually kicked in, allowing Pliskova to secure victory after one hour and 51 minutes.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)