Roars from Court Suzanne Lenglen echoed in the distance, while a focused Sloane Stephens found her groove on Court Philippe Chatrier.
While French Open fans were enraptured by Stan Wawrinka out-dueling Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-hour, nine-minute epic on Lenglen, Stephens calmly and quietly conquered 2016 champion Garbiñe Muguruza, 6-4, 6-3, in a physical test on Chatrier.
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The victory sent Stephens into her third major quarterfinal in her last five Grand Slam appearances.
The 2018 Roland Garros runner-up will face nemesis Johanna Konta for a semifinal spot.
Konta conquered 23rd-seed Donna Vekic, 6-2, 6-4, becoming the first British woman to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals since Jo Durie did it in 1983. Konta has won both meetings with Stephens this season, including a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1, win in Rome last month. That came after Konta swept Stephens, 6-4, 6-3, in Brisbane.
Stephens said she's hit the re-set button and is a different player now.
"My season started in Charleston—the first match," Stephens said. "And when I played her the first match of the year, totally out of my mind. And then the one in Rome, bad circumstances. Out of the mind
"So I'm just going to go in with a clean slate. Really, like I said, we play a sport, so you never know what's going to happen on the day. So just put all of that out of my mind and just go and play a quarterfinals Grand Slam match like I know how to."
This quarterfinal is a stylistic contrast pitting Konta's baseline aggression and flat strikes against the speedy Stephens' topspin forehand and skilled counter-strikes.
Stephens will try to create running rallies and use her quickness and accuracy to stretch the slower Konta, while the British No. 1 will try to take the first strike, control the center of the court and force Stephens to defend from several feet behind the baseline.
"She has a good, all-around solid game," Stephens said of Konta. "I mean, obviously she's been at the top of the game before, so she knows how to play in key moments. So, yeah, she has a good, solid game."
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