Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, the No. 2 seeds at the 2012 French Open on the men's and women's draws, respectively, marched ever closer to the finals with wins at Roland Garros on Monday. Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals with arguably his most impressive victory yet, winning 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, over No. 13 Juan Monaco. Sharapova dropped her first set of the tournament in a 6-4, 6-7 (12), 6-2, win over Klara Zakopalova.
No. 4 Andy Murray survived yet another slow start for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, win over No. 17 Richard Gasquet of France. No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 6 David Ferrer also won Monday to round out a men's quarterfinals field that includes the Open's top six seeds among the eight participants.
No. 4 Petra Kvitova beat American Varvara Lepchenko handily, 6-2, 6-1, to advance. No. 7 Na Li was less lucky, becoming the latest highly-seeded woman to fall prematurely in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, loss to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. No. 6 Samantha Stosur of Australia is the only other Top 8-seeded woman outside of Sharapova and Kvitova playing in the quarterfinals.
For full French Open results, click here.
For more on the 2012 French Open stay tuned to this StoryStream, or you can find more tennis coverage at SB Nation's dedicated tennis hub.