French Open: Iga Swiatek secures remarkable double-bagel as she marches into fourth round in style

ByEurosport

Updated 03/06/2023 at 17:26 GMT

Iga Swiatek produced an astonishing display of tennis on Saturday as the top seed and current world no. 1 secured a brilliant double-bagel in her third round Roland-Garros match against Wang Xinyu. Swiatek was in complete control in what was a dominant performance. The 2020 and 2022 champion is looking in good form to defend her French Open crown in Paris.

Swiatek v Wang - French Open highlights

Top seed Iga Swiatek produced a stunning display of tennis on Saturday as a double-bagel against Xinyu Wang saw her ease into the fourth round of the French Open.

Swiatek is a two-time champion at Roland-Garros and holds the 2022 trophy, and also won last year’s US Open.

The 22-year-old is the world No. 1 and one of the favourites for this year’s tournament, with her chances only enhanced by the withdrawal of Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina earlier on Saturday due to illness.

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Swiatek arrived in Paris with two tournament wins to her name in 2023, having won the Qatar Open and Stuttgart Grand Prix in the run-up to the Grand Slam, but lost at the Madrid Open to Aryna Sabalenka in May.

For her 21-year-old Chinese opponent, this was the furthest she had reached in any Grand Slam competition, and is ranked No. 80 in the world.

She had beaten Rebecca Peterson on Thursday in two sets, while Swiatek defeated Claire Liu to reach the third round.

Swiatek immediately broke to take the lead and then held her serve to go 2-0 clear, and she made it six straight games to bagel the first set with no difficulty.

That form continued for the Polish youngster as she faced little resistance in the second set.

'Wow, ruthless' - Reaction to outrageous Swiatek double-bagel victory

The record for the fastest win at Roland-Garros stands at 32 minutes, set by Steffi Graf in the 1988 French Open final, and there had not been a WTA double-bagel at a Grand Slam since the Australian Open in 2021.

It is the first double-bagel in the women's draw at Roland-Garros since Caroline Wozniacki in 2017 against Francoise Abanda.

'I'm boring!' - Swiatek reacts to faultless double-bagel win against Wang

It took 51 minutes in all for Swiatek, who needs just one more win to be assured of No. 1 status regardless of the outcome of the current tournament.

Speaking after the match, Swiatek remained focused: “I’m happy, it was a solid performance from me. It’s not easy to win and keep focus, so I’m happy that I took care of everything.

“I don’t think if I played every point like a match point it’d be good, because match points are stressful. Every point is important, and at the highest level, every point matters. I want to be focused no matter what situation I’m in, because I’ll use that skill in tighter matches and games. You need to have discipline. Sorry, I’m boring,”

Swiatek will face Lesia Tsurenko in the next round after her 6-1 6-1 win over Bianca Andreescu.