Iga Swiatek celebrated her 23rd birthday in some style at the French Open on Friday, where she is bidding to win her 4th title, and 3rd in a row, while Coco Gauff, Marketa Vondrousova and Ons Jabeur were among those also to make it into the Last 16 in the top half of the draw. Honestly, I think this is the advantage of having one day off. Because, yeah, sometimes it’s harder to keep the routine or something, but this time, actually, it helped because yesterday I wasn’t even practicing also because of the rain.
So, yeah, I could reset, and I could also rest, physically, because this match [against Osaka] was, for sure, demanding. Iga Swiatek
On another rain-interrupted day of play on the outside courts, Swiatek had the comfort of the closed roof on Court Philipe-Chatrier, where she took on Czech Marie Bouzkova in an encounter that saw the Pole returning to her dominant ways, and winning, 6-4 6-2, in an hour and 33 minutes.
“So I’m happy that I won, and I, kind of, gave myself a present,” Swiatek said afterwards. “I felt good today. Like, I can just proceed with having a solid tournament, even though I was in trouble against Naomi for sure.”
The World No 1, who trailed in the deciding set against 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka on Wednesday, saving a match point on her way to a 7-6(1) 1-6 7-5 win, feels lucky to still be alive in the draw.
“[I was] just overwhelmed with emotions,” she said. “I honestly thought that I’m going to be out of the tournament. Even though I felt something on court, it, kind of, hit me after. I was happy that I won, but I still felt, like, I was really on the edge. So, yeah, I just cried.
“I feel good physically, I had a day off yesterday, and I don’t feel like the match [against Osaka] stayed with me, but we’ll see at the end of the tournament.”
With her father Tomasz and elder sister Agata present in the stands, it was business as usual for Swiatek on Friday. Tomasz was a rower who represented Poland in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, while reports suggest that Agata is pursuing a career in dentistry.
They both watched as she efficiently dispatched Bouzkova to safely seal a berth in the Round of 16 for the 6th year in a row.
“Honestly, I think this is the advantage of having one day off,” Swiatek explained. “Because, yeah, sometimes it’s harder to keep the routine or something, but this time, actually, it helped because yesterday I wasn’t even practicing also because of the rain.
“So, yeah, I could reset, and I could also rest, physically, because this match was for sure demanding.”
Swiatek found it much easier to control the outcome of points against Bouzkova, the World No 42 who had beaten 29th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova in her opening round, but had missed much of the clay-court season due to injury, and played only 2 matches in the 6 weeks prior to Roland Garros.
In her first-ever meeting against the talented and versatile Czech, who has 10 career Top 10 wins to her credit, Swiatek broke serve 4 times, doubled Bouzkova’s total of winners to 32, and produced only 19 unforced errors.
The Pole won 7 of the last 9 games in total, although she needed 4 match points to finally finish her off, one on the Czech’s serve in the 7th game of the second set, while she was pushed to deuce from 40-15 on her own serve before closing the match out.
Swiatek’s win extended her unbeaten streak in Paris, and her clay-court run this year to 17 straight matches, while she has lost just 3 sets at Roland Garros during that time.
In fact, the Pole’s win-loss record in Paris stands at 32-2, and she has never failed to reach the second week.
Swiatek will next play Anastasia Potapova from Russia in the 4th-round, who fought her way past China’s Wang Xinyu, 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4, after 2 hours and 50 minutes out on Court 14. It is the first meeting between the two on the WTA Tour. Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, outplayed Dayana Yastremska to reach the Last 16 in Paris© Clive Mason/Getty ImagesEarlier in the day, Coco Gauff opened play on Chatrier, holding off a late fightback from Australian Open semi-finalist Dayana Yastremska to win, 6-2 6-4.
In Paris, the reigning US Open champion has reached 2 quarter-finals and the 2022 final, which she lost to Swiatek.
The 20-year-old American failed to serve out the match when she was leading 5-2 in the second set, but she saved 3 break points in the 10th game before getting herself over the line to make the Last 16 for a 4th straight year.
“When it was time to close out, and the games were getting close and tight, I was trying to just remind myself I’m in the better position,” Gauff said. “I’m the one up a set and double break, so I was just reminding myself of that.
“There are times when you’re down a set and a break, and you have to tell yourself it’s OK. It’s just really psyching yourself out.”
There is another thing that Gauff likes to tell herself these days: “Billions of people don’t even know who you are. So the matches aren’t as big as they feel sometimes.”
Gauff will play Elisabetta Cocciaretto for a place in the quarters, after the unseeded Italian upset Russian 17th seed Liudmila Samsonova, 7-6(4) 6-2, in the opening match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.23-year old Cocciaretto is ranked 51 in the world, and playing in the 4th round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Gauff has played her twice before, and won both times, most recently in February in Dubai, but they have never played on clay, which Cocciaretto loves.
The American described the Italian opponent as a fighter: “I know I have to go in there with a strong mentality,” Gauff added. Ons Jabeur is finding her form on the clay at Roland Garros, beating Leylah Fernandez on Friday to reach the 4th-round© Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesAlso on Lenglen, Tunisian 8th seed Ons Jabeur got past Leylah Fernandez from Canada, 6-4 7-6(5), teeing up a 4th-round match with Clara Tauson, after the Dane followed her surprise 2nd-round upset of 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko by knocking out former finalist Sofia Kenin.
Jabeur continues her quest to become the first Arab and African woman to claim a Grand Slam title with a hard-fought win over the left-handed No 31 seed, taking an hour and 53 minutes to fend of the former US Open finalist, and saving a set point at 5-4 in the second set in the process.
It was Jabeur’s 4th win in their 4 career meetings, and marks the Tunisian’s rebound on the red clay after a challenging start to this year, losing 6 of her first 8 matches in 2024.
Even a return to the green clay of Charleston, where she is a former titlist, did not bring her a win, although she lost to the eventual champion, red-hot Danielle Collins.
When her form is solid, Jabeur knows she can make the Roland Garros quarter-finals, as she did just last year.
“Just reminding everyone that I’m still here,” Jabeur said with a laugh. “It’s also nice to prove for myself, because I’ve been in a bad place for months, trying to get back, and gain back my confidence. But, again, to be in the second week, it’s really important for me, and for the hard work that I did.”
Jabeur has come within touching distance of Grand Slam glory in the past, reaching the last 2 Wimbledon finals and the 2022 US Open title clash, but the 29-year-old has not been able to cross the finish line.
Ever since losing last year’s Wimbledon final, it has felt as if there has been a weight on her shoulders, and, on Friday she said as much, revealing that ‘sometimes I sleep at night, and I only think about what I should have done differently’.
The 3rd-round meeting with Fernandez presented a tricky challenge, and they exchanged breaks midway through the opening set before Jabeur took control of the contest on serve.
Limited success…
