Story so far: Thiem weathers Gaston storm

Dominic Thiem admits he was "lucky" to survive a five-set affair with French wild card Hugo Gaston, who fell to the No.3 seed 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3 but not before capturing the hearts of the home crowd that gave him a well-deserved standing ovation on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday.

Thiem, a two-time Roland-Garros finalist and recent US Open champion, is into the last eight for a fifth consecutive year in Paris, and next takes on Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, who defeated Lorenzo Sonego 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

"I think it was an amazing match from both of us. Such good fighting qualities by him. I haven't seen for a very long time a player with such a big touch in his hands, I mean his drop shots are just from another planet, sprinting like 400 times to the net, so all the credit to him," Thiem said of the 20-year-old world No.239.

"If he continues like this, he's going to be a huge, huge player and he's going to make a lot of joy in this stadium in the future."

Elina back in the quarters

Third-seeded Elina Svitolina sunk home hopes on Sunday, dismissing Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-1, 6-3 in 63 minutes to reach the third Roland-Garros quarter-final of her career and first since 2017.

The Ukrainian, who is the highest-ranked woman left in the draw, next takes on Argentina's Nadia Podoroska for a place in the final four.

"Definitely it was not easy for both of us, I think it was really important to get into the consideration that it's really windy and try to adjust the game as quick as possible and the person who adjusted the quickest would win, so I'm happy that it's me today," said the 26-year-old Svitolina.

>EARLIER ON SUNDAY

The 131st-ranked Podoroska, who is making her Roland-Garros debut, overcame Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to keep up her tremendous form this year.

The 23-year-old has now won 21 matches on clay since the tour restarted early August.

Great day for Italy

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Jannik Sinner joined his countrywoman Martina Trevisan as Grand Slam quarter-final debutantes with a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 upset of No.6 seed Alexander Zverev.

Sinner dropped his first set of the fortnight but recovered immediately to eliminate the US Open finalist and book a mouth-watering encounter with 12-time champion Rafael Nadal.

The Italian world No.75 is the first man to reach the last eight on their Roland-Garros debut since Nadal in 2005. He is also the the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam since Novak Djokovic achieved that feat on Parisian clay in 2006.