PARIS, May 31 — Russian Anna Blinkova needed nine match points to finally beat home hope Caroline Garcia and reach the French Open third round today.

Fifth seed Garcia saved eight match points on Blinkova’s serve late in the deciding set but eventually succumbed to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat.

"It was very, very hard. This victory is a very important thing for me,” said world number 56 Blinkova.

She will next face Ukrainian Elina Svitolina for a last-16 place, a repeat of last weekend’s Strasbourg final won by Svitolina.

"Every match is different. I need to stay concentrated match by match and day by day,” she added.

Svitolina’s compatriot Marta Kostyuk was booed by the French crowd on Sunday for refusing to shake hands with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Svitolina also refused to shake hands with Blinkova after the Strasbourg final. — AFP