Women's round-up: Ana Ivanovic through to fourth round in less than an hour

The world number seven, who won at Roland Garros in 2008, lost the first set in both of her first two matches at the French Open but cruised through in less than an hour.

Vekic, ranked 165th in the world, offered little resistance as Ivanovic became the first competitor to reach the fourth round, and the second week.

Ivanovic won the first seven games of the content before Vekic finally broke to take a 2-1 lead in the second set.

But Ivanovic shut her resistance down and only lost one further game.

She will face either Ekaterina Makarova or Elena Vesnina in the next round.

“It's my best match on clay this season,” said Ivanovic. “I don't have a great record on this court (Suzanne Lenglen) so I am trying to correct that.”

Meanwhile, Alize Cornet reached the fourth round for the first time on Friday, hoping to lead a wave of Les Blues into the last 16 at their home tournament.

The French number one, the latest to feel the weight of home expectation after a 15-year gap since Mary Pierce claimed the title, beat Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6 6-3 7-5.

When Lucic-Baroni fired a return of service long on match point, 29th seed Cornet collapsed joyfully onto to her back as if celebrating the title itself.

"Sometimes I would jump, sometimes I would yell," said 29th seed Cornet, making her 11th main draw appearance at the French Open, told reporters.

"It's not something I think about beforehand.

"But after this two-and-a-half-hour fight, I felt so relieved that I fell on the ground. A bit like Rafa."

She only has Kristina Mladenovic to share the burden in the women's draw, but the French men are advancing en masse in a bid to reclaim La Coupe des Mousquetaires.

It has been in foreign hands since Yannick Noah's 1983 title, but seven Frenchmen have reached the third round this year, only one short of the professional era record, and most of them were in action on Friday, day six of the tournament.

28-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 8-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-3 6-4

2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat 26-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-3 6-4

Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat 11-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 4-6 6-2 6-2

13-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat 20-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-3 7-6(2)

9-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-2 6-4

29-Alize Cornet (France) beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 4-6 6-3 7-5

19-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat Annika Beck (Germany) 6-3 2-6 6-4

7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-0 6-3