Getting her game in gear at a Grand Slam tournament, as usual, Sloane Stephens moved into the French Open's fourth round for the third consecutive time. Now comes the 15th-seeded American's toughest test yet this year in Paris, a matchup against No. 4 Simona Halep of Romania. Neither has ever made it to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. ''Obviously, as the tournament goes on,'' Stephens said, ''the competition gets tougher.'' She eliminated No. 22 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 6-4 Saturday, while Halep beat 55th-ranked Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-3, 6-0 as the temperature approached 70 degrees (20 Celsius) on the sunniest day of Week 1 at the clay-court major.
More...