03 June, 2017
However, speaking after her 6-0 7-5 win over Kasatkina the Romanian admitted there was still pain there but she was doing her best to not let it affect her game.
Halep, who has reached at least the quarterfinals at each of the four majors, next plays Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.
As the third seeded player at the French Open, Halep will be the favorite in the meeting between her and Kasatkina.
Garcia, who is seeded 28th, won 6-4, 4-6, 9-7.
Wasting game points, with one of them being thrown away on a double fault, Kasatkina was the victim of Halep's merciless aggressive style of play as she hit a couple of backhand unforced errors to get broken yet again, going down a double break and a 0-3 deficit despite having game points in all of the games thus far. The higher-ranked player then comfortably served out the set to 30, sealing the unpredictable bagel set after just 27 minutes of play.
Hsieh of Taiwan upset seventh-seeded Johanna Konta in the opening round. This saw her take the first break of serve in the opening game of the match, jumping off to a great start.
Marin Cilic is through to the fourth round of the French Open after swatting aside Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. Kasatkina's wonderful run continued when she held her serve before breaking serve for the second straight time to take a 5-3 lead and earned the golden opportunity to serve out the set.
The 2014 U.S. Open champion next faces South African Kevin Anderson, who ousted Britain's Kyle Edmund in five sets.
Using an armoury of delicate drop shots, Alize Cornet rode a tide of French support into the last-16 of Roland Garros on Saturday with a 6-2 6-1 win over Agnieszka Radwanska.
Cornet's only moment of trouble came from a hard bounce of the ball as it flew under her racket at 30-15 in the final game.
"You work all year for moments like this", said Cornet, who was tearful in her interview on court. "I feel so good on this center court". Kasatkina, just 20-years-old, has now reached the third round at the French Open for the second consecutive year.
They each had a significant win previous year with Murray taking gold at the Rio Olympics final and Del Potro edging a five-set thriller when Argentina beat Britain in the Davis Cup semifinals.
Following them onto Court Philippe Chatrier will be No. 15 Gael Monfils and No. 24 Richard Gasquet.
A scan showed a tear in the ligament but Halep was able to recover sufficiently to take her place in the draw, and she has seen off Jana Cepelova, Tatjana Maria and Daria Kasatkina easily.
Second-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova and No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania headline women's play.
