Defending champion and top seed Iga Swiatek swept into the Round of 16 at Roland Garros with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory over 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu on Court Philippe Chatrier on Saturday.
Swiatek needed only 51 minutes to dismiss Wang in their first match at the tour-level. Swiatek had edged Wang in their two close meetings during their junior careers, but this time around, Swiatek cruised to a win.
Swiatek, the champion in 2020 as well as last year, has won her past 10 matches at Roland Garros and is 24-2 throughout her career at the tournament.
Swiatek's fourth-round opponent will be former Top 25 player Lesia Tsurenko, who stormed past 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-1, 6-1 on Court Simonne Mathieu in just 62 minutes.
Swiatek leads her head-to-head with Tsurenko 2-0, with both wins coming on clay by matching 6-2, 6-0 score lines. Swiatek beat Tsurenko in the first round here at Roland Garros last year, and she replicated that victory just last month in Rome.
Swiatek speaks: After Saturday's win over Wang, Swiatek said she was most happy with "the way I kept my focus throughout the whole match. Just the fact that I know I keep feeling better and better every day, and that's kind of what I wanted to achieve in this tournament.
"I'm glad that I kind of feel the rhythm a little bit better on every match. I'm just happy that I was disciplined till the end."
On a roll: After winning her first two matches this week by identical 6-4, 6-0 score lines, Swiatek had an even easier time of it against Wang. Swiatek brings a comprehensive 19-game winning streak into the next round.
Swiatek, who will feature in Part 2 of Netflix's "Break Point," never faced a break point Saturday, and she fired 21 winners to Wang's three. Wang was contesting her first third-round match at a Grand Slam event, but after the double bagel, she fell to 0-3 against Top 10 players in her career.
Swiatek is still in the hunt to retain her World No.1 ranking coming out of Paris. Swiatek needs to reach at least the quarterfinals to have any chance of maintaining her hold on the top ranking.
Tsurenko rolls on: Later on Saturday, Ukraine's Tsurenko went 6-for-6 on break points in her match, and she had 20 winners to just six by Andreescu. Tsurenko is now into the French Open Round of 16 for the second time in her career (also 2018).
The 34-year-old continues to have a resurgent 2023 after suffering numerous injuries over the past decade. Tsurenko has more than halved her ranking since the start of this year, from No.137 to her current position of No.66.
If Tsurenko can get her first win over Swiatek on Monday, she will match her career-best showing at a Grand Slam, which was a quarterfinal result at the 2018 US Open.
3 - Iga Swiatek is the 3rd women’s player to register four 6-0 sets in the first three rounds of the Roland-Garros in the Open Era after Mary Pierce in 1994 and Martina Navratilova in 1985. Champion.
1 - Iga Swiatek has her first 6-0 6-0 scoreline at a Grand Slam event. It's the fourth in the women's singles at Roland-Garros in the past decade and the first since Caroline Wozniacki defeated Francoise Abanda in 2017. Benchmark.
Swiatek is still in the hunt to retain her World No.1 ranking coming out of Paris. Swiatek needs to reach at least the quarterfinals to have any chance of maintaining her hold on the top ranking.
Tsurenko rolls on: Later on Saturday, Ukraine's Tsurenko went 6-for-6 on break points in her match, and she had 20 winners to just six by Andreescu. Tsurenko is now into the French Open Round of 16 for the second time in her career (also 2018).
The 34-year-old continues to have a resurgent 2023 after suffering numerous injuries over the past decade. Tsurenko has more than halved her ranking since the start of this year, from No.137 to her current position of No.66.
If Tsurenko can get her first win over Swiatek on Monday, she will match her career-best showing at a Grand Slam, which was a quarterfinal result at the 2018 US Open.
This is one impressive win. I know she has done it before but it's quite something to do it at a Grand Slam. Just extraordinary.
I honestly have to wonder whether on some subconscious level Iga really loosened up after hearing of Rybakina's withdrawal from the tournament with a viral illness.
But more likely it's just Iga feeling more comfortable on the court as I said she would be with more time spent on it.
3 - Iga Swiatek is the 3rd women’s player to register four 6-0 sets in the first three rounds of the Roland-Garros in the Open Era after Mary Pierce in 1994 and Martina Navratilova in 1985. Champion.
1 - Iga Swiatek has her first 6-0 6-0 scoreline at a Grand Slam event. It's the fourth in the women's singles at Roland-Garros in the past decade and the first since Caroline Wozniacki defeated Francoise Abanda in 2017. Benchmark.
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