‘Opportunity’ for women at French Open

For all of the tumult in the French Open women’s draw and the unfamiliar names filling the quarter-final slots, the men’s tournament has been much more about the usual suspects: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and, of course, Rafael Nadal.

The No. 1-seeded Murray, last year’s runner-up, and No. 3 Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champ, moved into the quarters with straight-set wins Monday.

While three of the winners in women’s fourth-round action Monday — No. 2 Karolina Pliskova, No. 3 Simona Halep and No. 5 Elina Svitolina — are highly seeded, none of the eight players left in that field has won a grand slam tournament. And they’re all well aware. “Everyone knows who remains in the draw,” said Svitolina, who was two points from losing before coming back to beat 290th-ranked Petra Martic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. “It’s a big opportunity.”

There’s a lot more experience and hardware among the men. There’s Murray and Wawrinka on the top half of the bracket, and on the bottom half, No. 2 Djokovic, the defending champion, and No. 4 Nadal, seeking a record-extending 10th title in Paris.

Murray was barely tested in the fourth round, beating 21-year-old Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Wawrinka ousted the last Frenchman, No. 15 Gael Monfils, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 6-2.

Next for Murray is a match against No. 8 Kei Nishikori. Wawrinka is 11-2 against quarter-final opponent No. 7 Marin Cilic.

Svitolina dealt with sudden pain in her back about a half-hour before her match. But after trailing 5-2 in the third set, and love-30 while serving, she switched to what she jokingly called Svitolina Mode and won 20 of the last 24 points.

Svitolina plays 2014 runner-up Halep. In another quarter-final, Pliskova meets No. 28 Caroline Garcia.