PARIS: Eighth seed Casper Ruud became the first Norwegian man to reach the French Open quarterfinals on Monday with a four-set win against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.
The 23-year-old held off a brief Hurkacz fightback to win 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and will face either fellow Scandinavian youngster Holger Rune of Denmark or fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday.
Ruud is into his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal as he continues an impressive season which has seen him win two clay-court titles.
"It's been a goal of mine to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam," said Ruud, who missed the Australian Open with injury.
"I didn't have the chance to play the Australian Open. Roland Garros is always a big goal, but even more so this year because I missed Australia."
He dominated the first two sets before Hurkacz, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year, battled back to force a fourth.
The Pole led by a break as he looked to take the match to a decider, but he could not maintain his momentum as Ruud moved 5-2 in front.
Hurkacz saved a match point on his own serve, but Ruud closed it out in the next game.
"Luckily, it was looking a bit dark for me in the fourth set as well but I managed to break him a couple of times," he said.
Ruud won his only previous clay-court match against Tsitsipas last year and has won all three of his previous ATP meetings with Rune.
RUSSIAN DUO IN LAST EIGHT
Daria Kasatkina on Monday said she is looking forward to sharing another "good memory" with Veronika Kudermetova when the Russian duo face each other in the French Open quarterfinals.
Kasatkina, seeded 20th, took advantage of an error-strewn performance from Italian Camila Giorgi to win their last-16 tie 6-2, 6-2.
She will face compatriot Kudermetova in the last eight on Wednesday.
Kasatkina and Kudermetova, who are both 25, played against each other from a young age and were part of the Russian squad who won last year's Billie Jean King Cup.
"(We played) many times in juniors. We played so many times," said Kasatkina.
"We were on one team winning Billie Jean King Cup last year, so we have many good memories to share together.
"Even before we played many European championships together because we're the same age, so we have a lot of memories to share.
"We will have one more, playing quarters at Roland Garros, I think it's a very nice moment."
The draw guarantees at least one Russian semifinalist in Paris.
Kasatkina broke into the world's top 10 four years ago after reaching the last eight at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon before a slump in form.
But she reached four finals last season to climb back up the rankings and is now one win away from a first Grand Slam semifinal.
Kasatkina made just 10 unforced errors to Giorgi's 37 in a dominant display on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Earlier, Kudermetova reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The world number 29 came back from a set down to defeat Madison Keys of the United States 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. -- AFP
French Open results
Men (fourth round)
Casper Ruud (NOR x8) bt Hubert Hurkacz (POL x12) 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Women (fourth round)
Veronika Kudermetova (x29) bt Madison Keys (USA x22) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1; Darya Kasatkina (x20) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA x28) 6-2, 6-2
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