Iga Swiatek appeared like her typical self towards Emma Raducanu within the second spherical of the French Open. The World No. 5 has dominated this main over the previous 5 years, successful it 4 instances.
Whereas there have been doubts not too long ago about whether or not that development will proceed, Swiatek is rounding into type at Roland-Garros. She gained in straight units within the first spherical and dropped simply three video games towards the previous US Open champion on this 6-1 6-2 victory.
Raducanu made a brutally trustworthy assertion on the Polish famous person’s efficiency on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Tom Hamilton.
“It was a extremely troublesome match,” Raducanu mentioned. “Iga performed very well. Yeah, it was powerful. I feel at first of the match it was fairly tight. Because it went on, I feel she grew in confidence. I simply felt a bit uncovered.”
Surprisingly, Swiatek has had a tough clay-court season. The five-time Grand Slam champion didn’t win a event or make a closing within the three clay tournaments she performed in. That included a 6-1 6-1 drubbing by the hands of Coco Gauff within the Madrid Open semifinal. The Polish star, nevertheless, appeared like her typical assured self within the post-match interview of Wednesday’s second-round conflict.
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“I knew what I needed to do, so I simply did it,” Swiatek mentioned. “I had fun on the courtroom, and I felt the sport fairly effectively, so I simply went for it.”
The No. 5 seed will now transfer on to the third spherical, the place she’ll tackle Jaqueline Cristian, who’s in her first French Open third spherical. Ought to Swiatek win this match, she has a probably brutal highway forward. Iga would then face the winner of Elena Rybakina or Jelena Ostapenko. Each are main champions, with Ostapenko having gained the French earlier than and not too long ago crushed Swiatek on clay on the Stuttgart Open.
If the event favourite makes one other quarterfinal, she is going to probably tackle final yr’s French Open runner-up and this yr’s Italian Open champion, Jasmine Paolini, after which probably world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, after which probably Coco Gauff. This draw is undoubtedly probably the most troublesome one the five-time main champion will probably should navigate to hoist the Suzanne Lenglen Cup. And regardless of being the fifth seed, the Polish famous person has a large goal on her again.
That mentioned, Swiatek can cement herself as this century’s best clay-court participant with a win at Roland-Garros. The one two ladies to win 4 French Open titles this century are the 23-year-old and all-time nice Justin Henin. Swiatek can stand alone in just a little greater than every week. It is a lengthy highway forward, however she continues to be the favourite in Paris.