China's lightning-quick Li Na wrapped up a third-round French Open victory over Romanian Sorana Cirstea before most of the fans had arrived on a jam-packed Saturday at Roland Garros.
Queues were still forming on the streets when sixth seed Li, the Australian Open runnerup, sealed a confident 6-2 6-2 win on a quarter-full Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Organisers will be happy with Li's speedy work given an elongated programme on the second main court after Novak Djokovic's third-round tie with Juan Martin Del Potro was halted by bad light on Friday and returns as the third match at 6-3 3-6.
Over on Court Philippe Chatrier down the tree and boutique-lined way, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus easily got the better of Italy's Roberta Vinci with a 6-3 6-2 win which further highlighted her strong title credentials.
With tops seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters crashing out and several players missing with injury, any woman left could realistically triumph in next Saturday''s final and Azarenka has continued her good form from the buildup events.
Men's champion Rafael Nadal was next on centre court for his third-round meeting with Croatian qualifier Antonio Veic.
The Spaniard has looked nervous on the clay this week but will want a quick win long before he settles down to watch the Champions League soccer final between Barcelona and Manchester United, as will Andy Murray when he faces Michael Berrer.
