French Open: Iga Swiatek dishes out double bagel

PARIS, June 3

Top seed Iga Swiatek pulverised Wang Xinyu of China 6-0 6-0 today with a flawless display to stay firmly on course to successfully defend her French Open title and fire a warning to her rivals.

Swiatek, aiming to win her third trophy in Paris in five years, showed no weaknesses as she cruised into the fourth round. She has now dropped just eight games in her three matches in Paris, while winning four of the six sets she has played to love. “It was a very strong performance from me and I was happy I was disciplined and took care of everything,” Swiatek said. “Every point is important for me and at the highest level every point matters,” the 22-year-old world No. 1 added.

She said while people got excited over double bagels there was always the danger of becoming complacent. “I always try to kind of be careful, because you don’t want to get lazy after winning these matches. It’s never easy to win these matches,” she said. “But on the other hand, sometimes all your head can remember is the score, and I always want to kind of be ready for every situation.”

She wasted little time to show who was in charge, breaking the Chinese world No. 80 three times to seal the first set in 28 minutes.

Wang’s strong forehand was supposed to be a major weapon but instead it let her down, with the Chinese piling up a dozen unforced errors en route to the first of two bagels.

Swiatek, who had also managed the double bagel feat in Rome last month, refused to be drawn into Wang’s power rallies and instead made her opponent run. She ended her masterclass after 51 minutes with a lucky net cord on her first match point.

Rybakina withdraws

Earlier, the tournament lost one of its main contenders for the women’s title as fourth seed Elena Rybakina pulled out ahead of her third-round meeting with Sara Sorribes Tormo due to illness. “I’m really upset not be able to play, but I guess that’s life,” Wimbledon champion Rybakina said. Reuters