Swiatek digs herself out of deep hole

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek clawed her way back from the brink to qualify for the French Open quarterfinals as she beat her claycourt nemesis Elena Rybakina after a high-octane decider on Sunday.

Advertisement

The fifth-seeded Pole looked out of sorts as she trailed 6-1 2-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier, leaving the crowd stunned, but Swiatek found her groove and some grit to prevail 1-6 6-3 7-5.

Her final opponent from last year, Jasmine Paolini, was on the wrong end of another dramatic last-16 clash against 13th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine as the Italian wasted three match points in a 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1 defeat. Svitolina will provide the next test for Swiatek, who continues her quest to become the first female player since tennis turned professional to claim the singles’ title four times in a row at Roland Garros.

In the top half of the draw, Olympics champion Zheng Qinwen battled on, the Chinese eighth seed overcoming Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(5) 1-6 6-3 to set up a clash against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka was briefly troubled in the first set before battling past 16th-seed Amanda Anisimova 7-5 6-3. She is now the first player to reach the quarterfinals in 10 consecutive Grand Slams since Serena Williams between 2014-17.

In the men’s draw, world No. 12 Tommy Paul blitzed Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-3 6-3 to become the first American male player to reach the French Open quarterfinals in 22 years.

Paul matched Andre Agassi’s run from 2003 after Americans on Saturday equalled a 40-year-old record with five women and three men reaching Round 4.