Iga Swiatek's quest for a fourth straight French Open title stayed on track Friday, as the top seed stretched her Paris winning streak to 24 with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Jaqueline Cristian to reach the Round of 16 for the seventh year running.
On the hottest day of the tournament so far, the three-time defending champion denied the recent Rabat finalist a final set, despite an inspired second-set performance. After getting through the first set without facing a break point, Swiatek saved all six she faced in the second set -- and denied Cristian a game point for a second-set tiebreak before breaking serve to win the match.
The prevailing emotion Swiatek felt after the 1-hour, 54-minute win? Relief.
"I'm just happy that I was super solid in the last game and didn't give any free points ... she used her chances and went for it every time I gave her a chance," Swiatek said afterward. "It was a great match and I think pretty entertaining. We both played nice. I'm happy I'm through and happy with the performance."
But that wasn't the only impressive number that came out of the victory for Swiatek.
She is now 38-2 in her first 40 matches at Roland Garros, tying queen of clay Chris Evert for the most main-draw wins at the tournament. She is also the sixth player to reach the Round of 16 in her first seven Roland-Garros appearances in the Open Era after Evert, Martina Navratilova, Gabriela Sabatini, Conchita Martinez and Monica Seles.
To tie Seles for the second longest winning streak at the French Open in the Open Era at 25, Swiatek will need to beat No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina who handled 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-2.
wtatennis.com
She may not have won a title yet this year but tomorrow she turns 24 years old (I was off by a day in my last post) and the records just keep on coming.
Another very solid performance today on a sweltering hot day.
Iga showed real grit and patience in the 2nd set as her opponent started to put up more of a fight. Her foot speed proved vital (something that she has been missing since the clay season started).
Coming to Roland Garros 10 days early and training was a really good call it turns out. So far she has done a really good job at changing her mindset as well although that will be truly tested when she has to face Rybakina on Sunday.
Who thankfully took out Iga's nemesis Ostapenko.
Rybakina's most dangerous weapon is her serve of course (something she used effectively with Ostapenko) and the deep shots she can hit to push Iga back.
The first serve percentage was definitely not up at her usual standards however so if Iga does a good job protecting hers (ass she did today saving all 6 break points she faced) she may be able to use that to her advantage.
Iga does have a better 2nd serve as well so I truly believe she can win.
Definitely has to move Rybakina around and use her speed. The only tournament with conditions remotely similar to Roland Garros is Rome.
Which Iga last played with Rybakina a few years ago where she retired due to a rib issue (so I never count this as a win). Really the only time Rybakina has beaten Iga on clay is the indoor tournament of Stuttgart. Completely different.
It defintely will not be easy in the lightest but there's a reason why Iga has won Roland Garros 4 of the past 5 years, she showed that today and I believe she'll do so again on Sunday.
Jazda Iga!.
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