Chile's Fernando Gonzalez returns the ball to Romania's Victor Hanescu during their fourth-round match on Sunday. (Christophe Ena/Associated Press)Fernando Gonzalez is playoff-bound at the French Open for a third consecutive year.
The 12th-seeded Chilean became the first player at this year's tournament to reach the quarter-finals, downing Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday at Roland Garros.
Gonzalez, who reached the 2007 Australian Open final, ended the match with his 21st forehand winner and finished with 50 winners and only 16 unforced errors.
Last year, he lost to eventual finalist Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, while Hanescu also lost to Federer in a quarter-final match in 2005.
Gonzalez reached the semifinals at the two other clay-court tournaments he entered this year, but missed a pair of others with an ankle injury.
In women's play, No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 29 Agnes Szavay of Hungary in a sloppy match that included a combined 17 winners and 66 unforced errors.
Cibulkova, 20, won five straight games in the second set to lead 5-2, but she was broken while serving for the match and had to wait a few more minutes to serve again and advance to her first major quarter-final.
Szavay upset third-seeded Venus Williams in the previous round.
Later Sunday, defending champions Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were scheduled to play, while No. 3 Andy Murray and top-seeded Dinara Safina were already on court.
