American 13th seed Madison Keys overcame a second set wobble to beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka on Friday and reach the last 16 of the French Open for the second time.
The match, which ended 6-1 7-6(7), was between two of the biggest hitters on the WTA Tour but it failed to really catch fire on a cool Suzanne Lenglen Court.
Keys was however helped on her way to the first set by a succession of wild errors from Osaka.
She broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set and looked to be closing in on a straightforward victory.
But 21st seed Osaka suddenly found her range and levelled the set.
Osaka’s mini-revival looked to have fizzled out when she dropped serve with a double-fault at 4-4.
Keys squandered a match point in the next game, however, and the 23-year-old US Open runner-up looked increasingly tight as the set moved into a tiebreaker.
Osaka led 4-1 but Keys dragged it back to 4-4 with a searing backhand pass.
However, Keys faced a set point at 5-6 and needed some superb defence to fend off the fired-up Japanese.
Keys saved another set point at 6-7, this time with a booming first serve.
She then wrong-footed Osaka to bring up a second match point and was relieved as her opponent coughed up another double-fault to end the contest.
She will face either fourth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine or Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu next.
Keys is one of three Americans to reach the third round with Sloane Stephens and three-times champion Serena Williams also in the hunt.
Sloane beat Keys in the Flushing Meadows final last year.
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