In Short
- Iga Swiatek defeated China’s Wang 6-0, 6-0 in the 3rd round
- Coco Gauff defeated 16-year-old Mirra in 3 sets
- Iga and Gauff, last year’s finalists, are in top form in Paris
By India Today Sports DeskWorld No. 1 Iga Swiatek continued her progress in her title defence at the French Open as she stormed into the women’s singles fourth round. Swiatek double bageled (6-0, 6-0) here opponent Xinyu Wang, World No. 80 from China who was featuring in her maiden Grand Slam third-round match.
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Iga Swiatek needed just 52 minutes at the Court Philippe-Chatrier to get the sensational victory as the tournament organisers scheduled a doubles match at the iconic court to make use of the time before the night session biggie between Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe.
Iga Swiatek, the top seed, has been in sensational form, having not dropped a set so far in the clay-court Grand Slam. After brushing aside injury concerns in the lead-up to the French Open, Swiatek has secured as many as 4 bagels in her run to the second week of the tournament.
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, according to Opta Ace.
Iga Swiatek will face the winner of another 3rd-round match between Canada’s Bianca Andreescu and Lesia Tsurenko. The Polish star seems unstoppable at the moment, making light work of her opponents one after the other.
MIRRA’S FAIRYTALE ENDS!
Meanwhile, World No. 6 Coco Gauff prevailed in a 3-set battle in the third round against 16-year-old Russian Wunderkind Mirra Andreeva in the third round.
Coco Gauff lost the opening set in a tie-breaker, but she raced through the next two sets to clinch a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1 in 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Coco Gauff, who reached the final last year, is slowly but surely hitting peak form at Roland Garros. Gauff along with Aryna Sabalenka are the major threats for the all-conquering Iga Swiatek in women’s singles at the French Open this year.
The 16-year-old Andreeva, who burst onto the scene with two victories over top-20 players at the Madrid Open, looked in top form in the first round as she showed the hunger to win and put relentless pressure on Coco Gauff.
Gauff went up 5-4 and 30-0 but got broken again before a poor shot at the net in the tiebreak gifted Andreeva the chance to take the advantage in the match.
The Russian wasted her first two set points and received a warning after hitting the ball into the packed Suzanne Lenglen stands.
She picked herself up, however, to bag the set with a swinging volley.
Andreeva then smashed her racket onto the ground in frustration as Gauff took the upper hand in the second set, winning five games in a row to level the match.
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