The reigning Australian Open champion shook off a sluggish start to thunder back against the home favourite and set up a last-eight clash against either Ons Jabeur or Danielle Collins, whose last-16 match was postponed until Tuesday due to rain. 

Against the backdrop of a boisterous, if somewhat sparse, home crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, Kenin showed her class to shrug off a disappointing first set and see off Ferro. 

She admitted afterwards that after a number of years hating playing on clay, she has finally started to enjoy herself on the surface. 

"I was super proud of myself," she said. "There was a lot of emotion and I'm super happy I won. The crowd wasn't the best but it's understandable.

"I usually don't play well on clay. In the past few years I hated the clay and last year I started to like it for the first time. I'm proud that I'm deep into the tournament."

Seventh seed Petra Kvitova, meanwhile, will face Laura Siegemund in the last eight after they saw off Zhang Shuai and Paula Badosa respectively in straight sets.

Against the backdrop of a boisterous, if somewhat sparse, home crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, Kenin showed her class to shrug off a disappointing first set and see off Ferro. 

She admitted afterwards that after a number of years hating playing on clay, she has finally started to enjoy herself on the surface. 

"I was super proud of myself," she said. "There was a lot of emotion and I'm super happy I won. The crowd wasn't the best but it's understandable.

"I usually don't play well on clay. In the past few years I hated the clay and last year I started to like it for the first time. I'm proud that I'm deep into the tournament."

Kvitova reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the first time in eight years with a 6-2 6-4 win over Zhang in one hour and 25 minutes. 

The Czech made her comeback from a knife attack in the 2017 edition of the tournament and says memories of that time came flooding back in the closing stages on Monday.

"I got a bit emotional during the last two points of my match," she said. 

"Everything just came back to me like when I had my whole family, and people who I loved, here. They helped me through the tough, tough times. It's definitely been a long ride."

Kvitova's reward for that victory is a clash against Siegemund in what will be the German’s first career grand slam quarter-final at the age of 32. 

She powered past Badosa 7-5 6-2 and says it is the realisation of a dream to be in the latter stages at one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments. 

"It's exciting to come so far. It was always my dream to be in the second week of a slam," she said. "I just spoke about it with my boyfriend at the US Open. It was one big goal for me to make it in singles into the second week of a slam. 

"That's where I see myself. That's where I want to be. I'm glad I'm making that come true now."