Roger Federer plays 4 grueling sets to reach Roland Garros 4th round

Swiss survives a stern test from Dominik Koepfer to reach the Roland-Garros fourth round

Roger Federer muttered to himself, shot weary glances at his box, struggled with his serve and even forgot the scoreline.

Federer’s first night session at Roland-Garros against German lefty Dominik Koepfer did not go as planned.

But even at the age of 39, and playing in only his sixth match this season after a long lay-off because of injury, the Swiss had the heart to get the job done.

“J’adore le tennis,” Federer said, after winning a gruelling 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 7-5 battle at 12:43am on Sunday morning in an empty main Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“My fighting spirit got me over the line,” said the 2009 winner, who missed most of last year after undergoing two knee surgeries. “You’ve got to love what you do, and I do.”

Unlike his previous two matches, which were played in the daytime in warm weather, the conditions for Federer’s third round were completely different.

Federer, one of the most popular players to have ever grace the Parisian clay, walked onto the main stadium court in almost complete silence. The night sessions in Paris are played behind closed doors because of a 9pm curfew due to the coronavirus.

“It benefits the players like myself or other players that are very focused when they go practice nowadays,” said Federer, when asked what it was like to play with no fans.

“I probably would have struggled a great deal when I was a teenager or a young player, because for me, practice was not really what I loved doing at all. I actually really disliked it, and for me it was all about the matches and atmosphere and playing for something.”

Federer began well, as he served smartly. But his 59th-ranked German opponent immediately showed he was not going to be a pushover, hitting heavy groundstrokes on both wings to keep the Swiss back.

After taking the first set on the tiebreak, Federer broke in the opening game of the second set but surrendered the break soon after. The pair then swapped breaks again, with the No.8 seed trying to outhit the left-handed Koepfer, who was causing damage with his backhand.

As Federer lost rhythm on serve, Koepfer took the second set on the tiebreak and when he broke in the opening game of the third, the 2009 champion looked in trouble.

“I wasn't sure after the second set how much was left in the tank, so it was a good battle until then,” Federer said. “I feel like I needed to maybe pace myself ever so slightly at that moment, especially emotionally, of not pressing too hard and wanting it too badly.”

But after battling hard to win his service games, Federer broke back for 4-4 as Koepfer faltered and then, serving better again and using the drop shot superbly, he snatched the third-set tiebreak to move ahead as the clock struck midnight in Paris.

In the fourth set, Federer broke early but was pegged back and had to keep strong on serve to stay in it, only to then lift his game again, breaking for 6-5 and serving out the clash for a well-earned victory. The 39-year-old has now reached the fourth round in Paris on his last 13 consecutive trips to Roland-Garros. He faces Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the fourth round.

Federer said his win over Koepfer was “very important” for him.

“I clearly hadn't practiced three hours 35, because that's obviously always pushing it. I pushed as much as I could, as we thought reasonable. But this today was a huge step forward for the team, and for all of us. I didn't expect to be able to win three matches here,” he added.

The 27-year-old Koepfer hailed the 20-time major champion, and marvelled at his abilities after spending more than two decades on tour.

“Roger is Roger,” Koepfer told German press after the match. “Unbelievable what he does at the age of 39. He plays very good tennis and is incredibly fit. He played better in the deciding moments.”

Although Federer was tired, he still managed to crack a joke as he left the court.

“Thank you for not falling asleep everybody, I appreciate it,” he joked, with a huge grin on his face.

RolandGarros.com

I have witnessed a lot of Roger Federer matches over the years, and at this point I really thought I had seen it all when it comes to the great Swiss. Turns out I was wrong. 

What he showed in this match was otherworldly. 

Playing in front of no crowd late into the early hours of the morning for a total of 3:36 minutes Roger Federer showed his incredible seemingly never ending fighting spirit; or maybe as the title of this Roland Garros article so aptly put it: his incredible love for the game of tennis.

The man is 2 months shy of his 40th Birthday. And yet after over a year and a half away from the game he still produced what might just be one of the best matches of his career on clay no less.

Looking dead on his feet in the 3rd set he showed grit that reminded us all why he's a 20 time Grand Slam Champion and somehow got himself over the finish line in a lifeless stadium.

If that's not inspirational I don't know what is. Take note young guns, that's how you give it your all.

This marked his 365th Grand Slam match win & 73rd at Roland Garros. Good luck trying to tie that record Novak Djokovic.

Roger's phenomenal effort was made all the more bittersweet by his withdraw from the tournament less than 12 hours later. But more on that in another post.

Defending Champion Iga Swiatek marches into 2nd week at Roland Garros

Defending champion has now won her last 20 consecutive sets at Roland-Garros as she blasts into the fourth round

Iga Swiatek has been playing like a rock star at this year’s Roland-Garros – and listening to others at the same time.

The 20-year-old Pole, whose march to the title last year was accompanied by the sounds of Guns N' Roses (Welcome to the Jungle was on repeat) in her ears, says she’s switched bands as she psyches herself up for matches.

“I have the same playlist as in Rome, so it's Led Zeppelin right now,” she said. “Last year it was Guns N' Roses, right now it's Led Zeppelin; so similar kind of music but different band.

“Off court I started to listen to some Polish music, and that's new for me because actually I haven't listened to Polish music ever. It's really cool. I would recommend it. But probably from this group, only two people would understand it.”

Swiatek booked her place in the last 16 at Roland-Garros with a 7-6(4), 6-0 victory over Anett Kontaveit and now plays Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine for a spot in the last eight.

Unlike many people who are influenced by their parents’ musical tastes, Swiatek said she had found Led Zeppelin herself, albeit with the help of a film
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“I just started listening to rock, and I was like browsing, and I liked them,” she said.

“I think I started listening to them more when I watched 'Thor'. Yeah, I listened to them even a few years ago, and I watched 'Thor: Ragnorok' in Australia."

Kontaveit had beaten Swiatek in both their previous meetings and broke in the first game.

The Estonian held the lead to 4-3 but Swiatek didn’t panic, broke back and then won the tiebreak before relaxing in the second set and storming away to her 10th straight-sets victory in Paris in a row.

Swiatek said it was good to have a battle, preparation for the tough assignments likely to come next week.

“For sure, when you're winning too easily sometimes you have thoughts that, 'hey, if I'm leading 3-0 I'm going to win this set easily', and you kind of take everything for granted,” she said. “It’s natural.

“I'm trying not to do that when I'm leading. And also, it's good to have matches like that because it keeps you down-to-earth and you have to just be careful on every point and on every game.

“I'm just happy that I'm able to play really solid deciding balls and really solid in really important moments. That's the most important thing for me.”

Swiatek said she was looking forward to having her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, onsite with the rest of the team in the second week and isn’t worried that any change in routine will upset her rhythm.

“I’m trying to keep my routines the same way because that's why they're routines basically,” she said, with a smile.

“But Daria, she's been with me on many tournaments, most of them actually, so it's just easier to keep them. You don't have to worry about many things because she's the brain in our team.

“I guess it changes the chemistry in the team sometimes because we have two boys and two girls, but I like it both ways, so it doesn't really matter.”

rolandgarros.com

The first real test for Iga passed with flying colours. 

Her next match could be another tricky one, playing someone younger than her who she's never played and has nothing to lose. 

Could be a cracking match. 

I know I keep saying this but Swiatek's composure at this Grand Slam astounds me. 

Iga Swiatek takes care of business moves into 3rd round at Roland Garros

Defending champion Iga Swiatek swept into the third round of the French Open on Thursday, dispatching Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, 6-1, 6-1 in just one hour and one minute.

No.8 seed Swiatek has notched nine straight victories on the grounds of Roland Garros, and her victory over World No.60 Peterson was one of her most emphatic yet as she booked a spot in the third round for the third straight season.

"From the beginning, I felt like I had a good day today since I woke up, so I knew that, you know, I'm going to be in the right mood," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I just kept that."

"I did my routines before the match," Swiatek continued. "Then when I was on the court, I just felt the ball perfectly. I felt like I could do anything with it. So I'm pretty happy that I had this attitude right now."

Swiatek, who became the first-ever Polish Grand Slam singles champion last year in Paris, has now won eight straight matches on tour, having won her third career singles title in Rome in her most recent event.

Currently ranked at a career-high World No.9, Swiatek was in complete control of her first meeting with Peterson, winning 80 percent of her first-service points, and slamming 22 winners to the Swede's seven.

"Obviously the score says that it was pretty easy, and it wasn't, because [Peterson] was playing really nice balls with good rhythm," Swiatek said.

Peterson had a handful of chances on the Swiatek serve in the opening set, and the two-time WTA singles titlist got on the scoreboard at 5-0 by breaking Swiatek with a forehand winner, preventing a bagel. But that proved to be a minor blip for Swiatek as she broke straight back at love, clinching the one-set lead with a deft dropshot.

The dropshot continued to come into play during the second set as well, as Swiatek mixed that stroke even more frequently into her otherwise powerful array of groundstroke weaponry. Once again, Swiatek charged ahead 5-0, this time without even facing a break point in the set.

"I can actually confuse players with that [dropshot] because they are, like, backing up, because I play really strong topspin and really heavy balls," Swiatek said. "They are not staying close to the baseline. They're waiting for the ball to drop. I can use dropshots and surprise them because they are not ready to go forward."

At last, Peterson held serve for the very first time in the penultimate game of the match, once more putting a digit in her ledger. But that only delayed the inevitable as Swiatek charged to triple match point in the next game, then fired a forehand winner on her first chance to wrap up the win.

Swiatek will face a seeded player in the next round of her title defense when she takes on No.30 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Former Top 15 player Kontaveit had a similarly swift victory on Thursday as she breezed past French hope Kristina Mladenovic, 6-2, 6-0, in just 51 minutes.

Former Top 10 player and 2017 Roland Garros quarterfinalist Mladenovic was no match for Kontaveit on the day, as the Estonian hit 20 winners to Mladenovic's seven, and never had her serve broken.

Kontaveit does bring an eye-opening 2-0 head-to-head lead into her clash with Swiatek, including a close, gritty victory over the Pole in the round of 16 at last year's Australian Open.

wtatennis.com

Next one is going to be the first real test for Iga but if she plays as well as her first 2 matches, she will finally get her win over Kontaveit for sure. Should be a high quality match. 

Roger Federer gaining confidence as he gets past Cilic at Roland Garros

Swiss great stands up to Cilic's second-round challenge to claim battle of Grand Slam champions

It is not at this early stage that one half of the four Grand Slam champions left expect to cross paths.

Next to the 'Big Three', Marin Cilic was the only other man with a major trophy to his name following the first round in Paris.

On Thursday, only three could possibly survive and it was the most senior standard-bearer – the oldest man in the draw – Roger Federer, who stepped up to let Cilic know it was his time to go.


As had been the case in 10 prior showdowns, the Croatian started as rank underdog – despite having climbed as high as world No.3 – but had hoped Federer’s lack of matches might compensate for his lack of wins leading in.

This was the only Slam where the two had never met and Federer ensured he left Court Philippe-Chatrier with the box set of victories, his 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 result achieved in two hours and 35 minutes.

“I feel like I come out of a match like this and I know why it was up and down,” Federer said. “And then that I was able to attain a solid level once he did break back in the third set and things were looking dangerous for me, that I was able to step up a gear, stay with him, and then pull away from him, I think that gives me a lot of confidence.”


Federer’s only defeat to the Croatian came in straight sets in a US Open semi-final seven years ago, when Cilic went on to capture his sole major trophy.

In 2017, a blistered left foot scuppered any chance of Cilic challenging for the trophy in the Wimbledon final, while six months later, it was the Swiss who again left the Croatian reeling following a five-set defeat in the Australian Open decider.

Three years on, 13 years since they first met, Federer was at it again.

One piece of Swiss artistry notably whipped the crowd into a wolf-whistling cacophony on Thursday, when he sliced a drop-shot backhand return from head height. The shot barely cleared the net for a winner and elicited a frown of concern across his opponent’s brow.

The 2009 champion was flying freely and secured the opening set a game later, but no sooner was it in the bag before momentum swung heavily Cilic’s way.

Federer engaged in a lengthy exchange with the chair umpire after being handed a time violation for taking too long between points at 1-3. This fetching your own towel caper was taking some getting used to and chewing up valuable Swiss time.

“I just feel like it was a misunderstanding on many levels. I didn't understand it and figure it out, and I guess I'm just new to the new tour,” Federer laughed. “It was quite interesting to live through it. Got a little energy to the match, which I liked.”

Cilic managed to hold his concentration and serve and rammed home the advantage with a double break to level the match.

This showdown ultimately hinged on the third set and it was the world No.47 who faltered on a double fault to direct the tiebreak in Federer’s favour.

Another double fault cost him dearly in the fourth as he conceded an early break and it was enough to sound his death knell as Federer pulled clear.

A third-round meeting with German world No.59 Dominik Koepfer is next for the No.3 seed and the chance to put his refurbished knee to the test again.

“For me, my knee, the good thing is that I got a lot of information out of a match like this,” Federer said. “We will keep on getting information tomorrow and the next day, so I hope I can back it up with another good match.

“And whatever the outcome is, I know it was definitely the right choice to come here to Paris, which I'm very happy about.”

rolandgarros.com

Roger Federer makes triumphant long awaited return to Grand Slam tennis at Roland Garros

Playing in his fourth match of the year and at only his third tournament, former World No. 1 Roger Federer wasted no time getting back to his winning ways at Roland Garros. The eighth seed was on song against qualifier Denis Istomin on Monday, claiming a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory to reach the second round.

The 2009 Roland Garros champion has been keeping his expectations in check ahead of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament. Federer, who underwent two knee surgeries last year and was sidelined for most of the abbreviated 2020 season, made his return to action at ATP 250 events in Doha and Geneva, where he amassed a 1-2 record.

But he shook off the rust in style against Istomin on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Federer didn’t face a break point across three sets, and extended his ATP Head2Head dominance over the Uzbek player to 8-0.

“I just felt overall much clearer, much better,” Federer said. “Clearly also maybe the type of opponent allowed me to have many different ways to win the point. I knew if I came to the net, that was an option, hitting a drop shot was always an option, taking the ball early was an option.”

“I felt today I really made a bigger effort of going more in swings and not going through it like in the practice, where you just go point for point for point,” he added. “I sometimes have to tell myself, Take a little bit of time, walk to the towel, do something different... That's where I think I felt much more comfortable today because I made an effort to think about it.”

Federer will face 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic in the second round, after the Croatian scored a 7-6(6), 6-1, 6-2 win over French wild card Arthur Rinderknech. It will be Federer's 11th time facing Cilic (9-1), in a rematch of the 2017 Wimbledon final and 2018 Australian Open final (both won by Federer).

Should Federer go on to lift his second Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy next week, he would become the first man in the Open Era to win every Grand Slam championship twice.

Federer took control of the rallies with his serve against Istomin, leaving the Uzbek under pressure and with few opportunities to do damage. He won 80 per cent (37/46) of points behind his first serve, and 79 per cent (15/19) of his second serve points.

The Swiss set the tone early on with a break to 15 in the first game, and he never looked back, finding his range as the match went on. The eighth seed found 48 winners, including eight aces, in the match, with 15 of those coming in the 22-minute opening set.

Istomin did well to hang with Federer in the second and third sets, targeting his opponent’s one-handed backhand. He saved four of five break points in the second set, but couldn’t hold back the 18-time Grand Slam winner as he took the lead again at 2-1. Federer reeled off five of the last six games in the third set to close out the match after an hour and 33 minutes.

“Overall I'm very happy [with my movement],” Federer said. “I can attest to that, as well. I moved pretty well today. I also kept rallies short purposely so I wouldn't get dragged into the long rallies. Always throw in the drop shot. We'll see what happens.”

Did You Know?

Federer has now won 29 of his 30 meetings with qualifiers at the majors. His only defeat to a qualifier at a Grand Slam came against Mario Ancic in the first round at 2002 Wimbledon.

atptennis.com 

I have waited 487 days to say this: Welcome back to Grand Slam tennis Roger Federer. We've missed you. 

I know the French Open is always all about Rafa, but watching Roger play today I was reminded how good, and fun he is to watch on clay. 

Even after all this time away he still possess a gracefulness unmatched by any of his peers. When his serve is working like it was today, his entire game just flows. 

There is a fluidity to the way he moves on court that's still captivating And I genuinely forgot just how much I missed it at Grand Slams especially. 

I know realistically he will not win this tournament, but I hope he sticks around for at least a few more matches, because I just want to enjoy him floating around that court some more.

Roland Garros Champion Iga Swiatek starts title defense with win on her Birthday

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No.8 seed Iga Swiatek posted an impressive 6-0, 7-5 win over Kaja Juvan in one hour and 27 minutes to kick off her Roland Garros title defence. The Pole was untouchable for the first half of the match, dropping just nine points in the first set. But she had to work harder to close it out as Juvan raised her level, and needed all of her focus to edge a second set that could have gone either way.

Juvan is a familiar face for Swiatek. The pair have been both friends and opponents since their junior days, having first met at U14 tournaments and graduated to the pro ranks together. As partners, they were doubles gold medallists at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games; as competitors, they first played in the semifinals of the U16 European Junior Championships back in 2016.

Swiatek won that match 6-3, 6-2, as well as their first pro encounter this February in the second round of the Gippsland Trophy 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Here, playing her first pro match as a defending champion and celebrating her 20th birthday, she showed no sign of being affected by either the moment or her No.101-ranked opponent, tallying 22 winners to 24 unforced errors.

"You never know what's going to happen when you're coming out on a court as a defending champion," Swiatek said. "I've never been in a situation like that. I'm really glad I could handle that pretty well and just play tennis, play a normal match without having in the back of my mind that I'm defending the title."

Indeed, Swiatek picked up where she had left off two weeks ago in Rome. She had captured that title with an eviscerating performance in the final, whitewashing Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0.

In a 23-minute first set against Juvan, everything Swiatek touched continued to turn to gold. She came out on top of cat-and-mouse net exchanges, flicked reflex dropshot winners off full-power returns and hammered heavy forehands beyond Juvan's reach.

"It's never easy to play against your best friend," said Swiatek. "I have some experience because I played with Kaja for a few times. You just try to block this friendship for two hours, just focus on the game. I think I'm doing that pretty well. It's nice to have that skill. So I was just trying to treat Kaja as any other girl, as any other opponent, because in sports when we are on court you can't have thoughts that are you going to make your game more soft."

Swiatek's winning streak of games reached 20 before Juvan finally held in the second set. From there, the Slovenian turned a one-sided rout into an absorbing contest, methodically working her way back into the match by adjusting her tactics and execution.

Having hit 12 unforced errors but no winners in the first set, Juvan began to find success by repeatedly deploying a well-disguised dropshot - and sometimes a fake dropshot that drew Swiatek forwards before Juvan pushed the ball deep instead.

The 20-year-old's canny play very nearly forced a third set. Having broken back to erase a 1-3 deficit, Juvan held two break points at 5-5, and missed a pass by inches on the second. Serving to stay in the match, she staved off the first three match points she faced with bold play.

But Swiatek, sensing victory, continued to pile on the pressure. A final banger of a backhand on her fourth match point was too much for Juvan to handle and sealed Swiatek's seventh win in a row.

Up next for Swiatek will be Rebecca Peterson, who came from a set and 2-5 down to beat Shelby Rogers 6-7(3), 7-6(8), 6-2 in exactly three hours. The Swede saved three match points in the second-set tiebreak.

That result means Swiatek will avoid the dangerous Rogers, who owns five Top 20 wins in the past year alone, and instead play Peterson, who has just two in her career to date.

https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2163398/swiatek-kicks-off-roland-garros-title-defence-with-juvan-win

20 year old iga Swiatek wrote a message on the camera lens after the match saying she feels old 

Which just made me feel ancient. 

Congrats to Iga on another impressive win and Happy Birthday! 

Iga Swiatek wins 3rd career title in Rome moves into the top 10

WTA Twitter

No.15 seed Iga Swiatek was in ruthless form as she routed No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in just 46 minutes in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia final.

Swiatek dropped just 13 points in total - four in the first set and nine in the second - and faced only four game points against her. The Pole picks up her third career title following Roland Garros last autumn and Adelaide in February, and the result ensures that she will break the Top 10 for the first time on Monday.

It was the first double bagel to decide the Rome title, and the most one-sided Italian Open final since 1983, when Andrea Temesvari defeated Bonnie Gadusek 6-1, 6-0. The last double bagel in a WTA final was Simona Halep's victory over Anastasija Sevastova at Bucharest 2016, and the last at 1000 level or above was Stefanie Graf's rout of Natasha Zvereva at Roland Garros 1988.

Not that Swiatek was aware, such was her focus on court.

"When my coach told me it was 6-0, 6-0, I was, like, Really? Isn't that a mistake?" she said afterwards. "When I was on the breaks, I was visualising that I'm starting that match from the beginning every time. Actually, I did that so well that I didn't even know that it was 6-0 in the first set... The key is just to not to think about it and just, you know, play. Because when you're gonna think about the score, you can actually ruin your mindset and ruin your attitude."

Today also marked the shortest completed WTA final since Istanbul 2009, when Vera Dushevina needed only 42 minutes to beat Lucie Hradecka 6-0, 6-1.

Double bagels in WTA finals since 2000

2006 Québec City, Marion Bartoli d. Olga Puchkova
2013 Sydney, Agnieszka Radwanska d. Dominika Cibulkova
2016 Bucharest, Simona Halep d. Anastasija Sevastova
2021 Rome, Iga Swiatek d. Karolina Pliskova

Swiatek had never before scored a double bagel win at pro level, though notably had defeated Pliskova's twin sister Kristyna 6-0, 6-1 to reach her first WTA final at Lugano 2019.

For Pliskova, it is just the second time in her career that she has failed to win a game in a completed match following her 6-0, 6-0 loss as a 17-year-old to Anna Korzeniak in the 2009 Latina-Nascosa ITF $10K quarterfinals. A former champion in Rome in 2019 playing her third consecutive final here, a leg injury had forced Pliskova to retire trailing Halep 6-0, 2-1 last year.

Swiatek raced out of the blocks and never let up, striking 17 winners to only five unforced errors over the course of the match. By contrast, a slow-starting Pliskova served two double faults in each of her first two service games, and did not find a winner until she was set point down after 19 minutes.

"From the beginning I felt that she may be a little bit nervous," said Swiatek. "I wanted to use that and actually play as many games with that vibe as I can. That's why it was pretty fast at the beginning.

"I saw that, because I thought her movement wasn't really good, but I also had in my mind that she's gonna start in a minute feeling better and being in a rhythm. So I wasn't really focusing on that."

Matters improved for Pliskova in the second set to the extent that she held two break points in the third game and two points to hold in the sixth. But Swiatek was not only in eviscerating form, able to take a stranglehold of rallies immediately and rarely faltering in finishing them off, but hungry for every game.

The 19-year-old swatted away every opportunity that Pliskova had to even get on the board with renewed focus, and brought up championship point with another brilliant forehand winner.

Swiatek's combination of heavy spin and pace had allowed her to exploit Pliskova's movement throughout the match, and she sealed victory as the Czech sent a forehand wide.

The 13 points Swiatek had conceded are the fewest in a 1000-level final. The previous record were the 24 points Serena Williams lost to Carla Suárez Navarro at Miami 2015.

"I think she had amazing day and I had horrible day," said Pliskova. "That's one of those combinations which I guess can happen.

"I just was feeling horrible out there today. That's one of those days. But I think she really made it extremely difficult for me to do any point and to play anything from my game. She was playing super fast. I thought she was just going for it.

"I had a couple, just a couple, of good shots, and I think she can just redirect so well and she can play even faster, and especially on clay. Because she has so much spin, I think it's super tough to do something from it. Especially today she had amazing placement of the ball. Everything was super deep and just close to the lines."

The result extends Swiatek's record in finals at all levels to an impressive 16-3 - 6-2 in juniors, 7-0 in ITF events and now 3-1 at WTA level. Swiatek also becomes the third player to win a title after saving match point en route in 2021, alongside Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open and Ashleigh Barty in Miami, having staved off two against Barbora Krejcikova in the third round.

The Krejcikova match, in which Swiatek struggled and only gradually found some form, was a turning point.

"Actually, it's a good way to call it like two phases of the tournament," Swiatek said. "At the beginning it was really, really hard. I actually wasn't thinking that it's gonna be enough - I'm not talking about winning the tournament - to even do a good result. But day after day I was feeling a little bit better and I just focused on that. I had good people around me that were telling me not to really worry and that sometimes it's the best idea not to care.

"I think playing yesterday two matches actually gave me more than it would usually, because I would get tired. But this time I was in a rhythm and I could feel that for three hours yesterday. So it gave me a lot of confidence."

wtatennis.com

I'll be honest. I did not think Iga had a chance to win this one based on how she played her first few matches. Nearly being knocked out of the tournament having to save 2 match points in the 3rd round. 

It was only after her matches on Saturday when she had to perform double duty and play quarter finals and semis the same day, that I believed the Iga of 2020 was back. 

I continue to be amazed by her seemingly nerveless performances when it comes to finals. It's almost like when she reaches that stage she flips a switch and is able to play on a whole other level and just turns her emotions off. 

Not many players can concentrate and visualize so well they literally forget the score and have to be told at the end they won without losing a game. That's just extraordinary for someone so young. Roland Garros defence next, and based on what she just did in Rome who's to say she won't lift that trophy again come June. 

That was mighty impressive and a pleaasure to watch as always. Get some well deserved rest Iga you've earned it. Bravo.