Muguruza breezes into French Open quarters

Garbine Muguruza of Spain celebrates her victory against Flavia Pennetta of Italy

Paris, June 1 (IANS) Spanish tennis player Garbine Muguruza on Monday entered the quarter-finals of the French Open after she beat Italy's Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 26 minutes here on Monday.

World No.28 Pennetta broke world No.20 Muguruza's serve at the very beginning of the match, giving her a 2-0 lead on Court Suzanne Lenglen, reports Efe.

However, Muguruza came back and broke the Italian's serve twice to bring the score to 2-2, then pushed forward to a 5-3 lead, and took one last game to win the first set.

The second set played out in a similar way as Pennetta led 4-1 on her way to take the set, but then Muguruza kicked into gear and won five straight games and glided into the quarter-finals.

In a courtside interview following the match, Muguruza admitted that while she may have appeared calm during the second set, she was "very nervous" on the inside.

The 21-year old Venezuelan-born Spaniard will play the next round against the 13th-ranked Czech player Lucie Safarova, who defeated Russia's world No.2 and defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6(7-3), 6-4.