Spain's Muguruza beats Wickmayer to reach last 16
The fourth seed at Roland Garros made light work of the Belgian winning 6-3, 6-0 to put her into a strong position to meet Serena Williams in the final.
In Paris, the competiiton is hotting up as players start progressing into the last 16, and with some of the top seeds already saying goodbye to the French Open, the passage to the final is looking that much more likely for Spain's Garbine Mugu
ruza.
As fourth seed the Spaniard, along with sixth seed Simona Halep, reached the last 16 of the French Open on Friday but both in rather contrasting fashions.
With the early exits of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and the powerful Victoria Azarenka, the Spaniard and the Romanian are seen as the biggest threats to Serena Williams' bid for a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title.
Williams is in the other half of the draw and has reached the third round without dropping a set.
The 22-year-old Venezuela-born Muguruza, who lost last year's Wimbledon final to Williams, easily saw off the challenge of Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0, winning nine games in a row from 3-3 in the first set.
'I did play very well. I wanted so much to win this match,' she said. 'I am really motivated at Roland Garros and I hope I can continue like this.'
Muguruza will play the winner of the match between 2009 Paris champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and her fellow Russian opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Another challenger
Halep, a losing finalist to Maria Sharapova in Paris two years ago, was stretched by 18-year-old US-based Japanese player Naomi Osaka before pulling through 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
'It was a very tough match. She played unbelievable and she is very young and talented,' she said.
'I think it was a little bit of mental and a little bit of experience too. I did well in the end and I am happy I can play again the fourth round here.'
She will next play the winner of the tie between last year's runner-up Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia.
Top seed and defending champion Williams plays her third round match on Saturday against former junior champion Kristina Mladenovic of France.