French Open: Caroline Garcia prevails in fourth round battle against fellow French player

The French have not had three women in the Round of 16 at Roland Garros since 1994, and now, also for the first time since 1994, two women will be representing France in the quarterfinals.

No. 13 Kristina Mladenovic, the top-seeded French female athlete in the tournament, overpowered defending champion Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 3-6 6-3 to the delight of the crowd, and she punched her ticket to the French Open quarterfinals. Mladenovic will be joined by former doubles teammate Caroline Garcia, who won a highly anticipated match against her french teammate Alize Cornet.

Garcia and Cornet’s match drew interest after a personal twitter fight became public when Cornet tweeted “LOL” at Garcia after she withdrew from a tournament due to injury. The two athletes said they did not have any plans to talk before the match because of the hostilities.

“I think she may have a grudge against us, so she’s not ready to talk with me, so I don’t think that it will be good to talk to her because we are playing against each other,” Cornet said before the match.

Yet, despite the “grudge,” the two athletes exchange a pleasant hug and kiss before parting ways at the end of the match.

“It was a weird match, these matches are not fun to play,” Garcia said. “It was crucial to forget what surrounded the game.”

Garcia will now play No. 2 Karolina Pliskova in the first singles quarterfinals of her career.