TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ana produced her best performance to date to power past 32nd seed Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-2 in the third round of the French Open. The 21-year-old smacked 20 winners during a 61-minute rout to extend her winning streak at Roland Garros to 10 matches. She will meet the winner of the Azarenka/Suarez Navarro match which was suspended late today tied at one set each. If Azarenka goes on to win, she will present the toughest test Ana has faced in a while.

Benesova was on the back foot almost from the very start. She carved out two break points in the opening game of the match, but Ana saved them both. Thereafter, Ana dominated with her forehand and demonstrated excellent court craft: she hit stop volleys, drop shots and heavy backhand slice.

Ana broke in the second game of the match. She added further breaks in games four and six as she whitewashed the Czech in an opening set that lasted just 23 minutes.

It was more of the same in the second set, although Benesova fought gamely and took a 2-1 lead by breaking Ana in the third game.

Normal service was resumed in the following game as Ana again overwhelmed her opponent, winning the remaining five games of the match to extend her head-to-head record over the Czech to 5-0. After winning the final point of the match she clenched her fist in recognition of a highly accomplished performance.

“It was a pretty good match,” said Ana modestly. “I was really happy. The score doesn’t indicate how hard I had to work for some points.

“She started playing much, much better in the second set, and started hitting the ball much heavier. I just played really good and stayed in the moment and did what I had to do out there. I’m really happy about my match today.”

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