Crestfallen, the 2009 US Open champion rested his hands and head on the net for nearly the entire duration of the changeover before handing Murray the break in the opening game of the second set. Murray, 30, kept his nose in front throughout, while the giant Argentinian was unable to reprise the heroics that saw the pair produce such magic in last year's Rio Olympics gold medal match. "I have been playing great, great points during the whole first set", said Del Potro.
His expectations on arriving in Paris were rather different to normal after a poor run of form on the clay, but Murray looked much more like his usual self in a straight-sets win over Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday.
"But definitely during the clay court season, the second and third sets were the best I have played for sure".
I was starting to get a better read on the returns, and I wanted to come out and make it really tough for him beginning of that second set-because he had had opportunities to close it out. I didn't play ideal tennis in the first three rounds, but [playing over the best of five sets] gives you a lot better chance of turning your form around and also winning matches just by playing smart. 'That's very positive, because I wasn't doing that for the last few tournaments and now in the last couple of matches I have done it, turned them around'.
The unseeded Cornet was a surprisingly easy victor against No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-1, while No. 28 Garcia edged Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan 6-4, 4-6, 9-7.
Switzerland's third seed Stan Wawrinka progressed after claiming a 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Italy's Fabio Fognini.
This sets up a 14th meeting with the eighth-seeded Kuznetsova, who won the French Open in 2009.
He said: "I think that is what we are looking for, to play on the big arenas like here, centre court, and to play against the world number one".
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He recovered from being a break down in the opening set and pulled away to win 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 6-3.
Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro stops at the net as he loses the first set against Britain's Andy Murray during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, June 3, 2017 in Paris. He avoided a third consecutive four-set match to open the tournament.
The 28-year-old slumped over the net and stayed that way during most of the changeover to catch his breath.
Murray beat Juan Martin del Potro in round three and will reach the last eight at Roland Garros for the sixth time in the past seven years if he can overcome the powerful Russian.
Romanian 3rd seed and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep sealed her place in the 4th round with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Russia's Daria Kasatkina.
Croatian Cilic defeated the 35-year-old Spaniard Lopez 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 after one hour and 47 minutes.
It was hard to know whether it was cause or effect, but Murray was broadly more calm than he has been for months, and spared his support box some of his more splenetic behaviour.
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