Iga Świątek hoped her recent injury wouldn’t prevent her from performing at her best level at the French Open. Well, no worries! The Pole just qualified for the third round of the French Open after defeating the American Claire Liu in straight sets (6-4; 6-0). 

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In the first round of the French grand slam, the Pole dominated the Spanish Cristina Bucsa, despite a laborious first set (6-4). Iga then raised her tennis level to inflict a so-called bagel on her opponent (6-0). 

On Thursday afternoon, the Varsovian faced an unexpected outsider ranked outside the top 100 of the WTA ranking, Claire Liu. Once again, Iga started in diesel mode. Despite Liu’s courageous resistance, the first set was eventually sealed at the Pole’s advantage after nearly an hour of combat (6-4). 

At the start of the second set, Iga immediately double-broke her opponent, putting herself in a comfortable position from that moment on. Yet Liu did not give up and even had three opportunities to counter-break while being led 3-0. This proved insufficient to stop the Polish superstar, who eventually took her service game and sealed the deal with yet another ruthless bagel (6-0). 

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This weekend, Iga will be facing the Chinese Wang Xin (WTA 106) for a place in the second week. At the moment of writing, the time of the match is yet to be communicated. 

One thing is sure, on Monday 4 June, Świątek will start her 62nd consecutive week as world number 1. And it looks like there’s more to come!

Image: Twitter Jimmie48

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen