Iga's new outfit it's growing on me but I miss the pink cap
PARIS -- It was the last point of the second set’s third game when Iga Swiatek unleashed a stinging forehand -- literally. The ball caught qualifier Leolia Jeanjean just inside the left thigh.
It wasn’t a malicious stroke -- Jeanjean actually ran into the ball -- but playing against the World No.1 brings more than the usual challenges. There was already a red mark when she exchanged a smile and a few light-hearted words with Swiatek on the sideline.
Monday’s first-round result, a 6-1, 6-2 Swiatek win, was hardly a surprise. She’s the first woman to win 15 consecutive matches at the French Open since Justine Henin, who took 24 consecutive matches between 2005-10.
Swiatek hit 26 winners (against 18 unforced errors) in a match that clocked in at a little over an hour. Swiatek broke Jeanjean five times.
That set up a second-round treat here at Roland Garros. There are two four-time Grand Slam singles champions in the field -- and they meet Wednesday. Among active players, Swiatek (70-16, .814) and Naomi Osaka (58-9, .753) have the best winning percentage in women’s Grand Slam singles matches.
“Really impressed,” Swiatek said of Osaka’s comeback. “She’s a great person, and her game style is pretty fun to watch as well. I’m just glad that she came back and she’s playing more tournaments even than before the break. I haven’t actually played against Naomi obviously on clay, so we’ll see how that’s going to go."
To be fair, they’re coming at this widely anticipated match from vastly different directions. Swiatek has been the World No.1 since winning the WTA Finals last November in Cancun. She’s coming off back-to-back victories at the WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome and, riding a streak of 13 straight clay wins, is the favorite to win her third straight title at Roland Garros.
Osaka, meanwhile, is five months into her comeback after giving birth to daughter Shai and is ranked No.134. She’s had increasingly good results on European red clay. After losing her first match in Rouen, Osaka split two matches in Madrid before winning three straight in Rome. A straight-sets win over No.11-ranked Daria Kasatkina, a finalist in Charleston, was an eye-opener.
One of Osaka’s rituals is avoiding a look at the tournament draw; she prefers to focus solely on the next match. Initially, Osaka didn’t know she was in line to face Swiatek, but eventually figured it out.
“I was, like, `Why does everyone keep asking me about this draw?’ ” Osaka told reporters after winning her first-round match over Lucia Bronzetti. “Then I knew that I was in the top half, so I was, like, jokingly, `Well, it’s not like I’m playing Iga.’ Then everyone got quiet. So I was like, `Oh.’”
Osaka defeated Swiatek nearly five years ago in Toronto -- when she was only 18 -- but Swiatek won their most recent match, two years ago in the Miami final. Those were both on hard courts, the surface that produced Osaka’s four majors titles, but clay has not always been her friend. After defeating Lucia Bronzetti in the first round (it went three sets), Osaka has won five clay matches in a season for the first time in five years, when she was the No.1-ranked player.
The match against Swiatek should tell us just how far away she is from that level. Osaka, who is currently ranked No.134, was asked if she was going into the match not expecting too much.
“In a weird way, I definitely do feel like it’s a test to see where I’m at,” Osaka said. “but I wouldn’t say I have low expectations of myself. I’m a person that kind of thinks that I can win every match that I play. That’s kind of gotten me this far.
“I would never play a match thinking lowly of myself, no.”
In her 15 months away from the game, Osaka said she watched a lot of Swiatek on television.
“I’m honestly really excited,” Osaka said. “I watched her a lot when I was pregnant. I think it’s an honor to play her in the French Open, because she’s won more than once here, for sure. So taking it as an experience and kind of knowing that I feel like I’m the underdog, and I think I thrive in those situations.”
This is the kind of rich history, Osaka -- has never beaten a Top 10 player on clay -- is up against:
Swiatek, who turns 23 at the end of the month, is now 29-2 at Roland Garros, which works out to 93.3 percent. Only Margaret Court (95.2) was better.
“Obviously our tennis changed since Miami 2022, and also our [ranking] position as well, a little bit,” Swiatek said. “But for sure nowadays in women’s draw you can play Grand Slam champions early in the tournament. It is pretty tricky because you know these players are really experienced.
“They also achieved many great things. So they have bigger kind of belief, I would say.”
This match was played under the roof so took Iga a bit of time to adjust to the conditions (especially since practice is always under an open sky).
This was also the fist match with different conditions vs Rome so don't think anyone including Iga herself expected perfection.
First matches in a slam are always the trickiest so happy she got through it with relative ease, and will undoubtedly only get better with each match.
Tomorrow's forecast in Paris looks pretty awful, so I'm sure all 3 roofs will get a work out.
And having played under there previously I think Iga will now be more comfortable.
Ever since Naomi Osaka came back from maternity leave fans have been waiting for their inevitable meeting, and now it's finally happening in the 2nd round of Roland Garros.
They have never played each other on clay, so that in itself will be interesting.
I am very intrigued to see how it goes.
Jazda!
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