Roland-Garros: Swiatek breezes through windy conditions to overcome Liu test

Iga Swiatek overcame windy conditions on Court Philippe-Chatrier to advance to the third round of Roland-Garros, defeating a potentially tricky opponent in American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0.

The world No 1 continued her quest for a first ever Grand Slam title defence by replicating the exact score she achieved in the first round, having also beaten Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 6-0.

Trickier Roland-Garros match than it appears

Ultimately, the scoreline made things look a little bit more straightforward than they actually were for the defending champion.

Swiatek struggled with the wind throughout the first set, getting pegged back to 3-3 having stormed into a 3-0 lead with a double break.

The experienced Pole, still only 22 years of age remarkably, did not let this comeback throw her mental focus, however, as she quickly moved a break ahead in the seventh game of the first set.

While the trademark tennis of a free-flowing, attacking Swiatek may have been missing in this match, it was a show of pure professionalism from the world No 1. She upped the pressure in the second set to earn a second 6-0 set in as many matches, closing out the win with a superb backhand winner.

“It’s not easy when we are constantly switching sides, one way we’re playing with the wind and one way against it,” Swiatek said during her on-court interview.

“So I really needed to adjust to that, but I’m pretty happy that, again, I managed to play the second set a little bit better and learn from the first set.”

Swiatek will turn her attention to Chinese player Xinyu Wang next.

Paris (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Stade Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 49.600.000, most recent results first):

• Julia Grabher vs. Coco Gauff
• Lauren Davis vs. Lesia Tsurenko
• Bianca Andreescu vs. Emma Navarro
• Oceane Dodin vs. Ons Jabeur
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Olga Danilovic
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (23) beat Anna-Lena Friedsam: 6-2, 6-0
• Bernarda Pera beat Donna Vekic (22): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Mirra Andreeva (Q) beat Diane Parry (WC): 6-1, 6-2
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Simona Waltert (Q): 6-2, 6-3
• Xinyu Wang beat Rebecca Peterson: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (14) beat Diana Shnaider: 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
• Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Petra Martic: 6-4, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Linda Noskova: 6-3, 6-3
• Kayla Day (Q) beat Madison Keys (20): 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat Aliona Bolsova (LL): 6-3, 6-4
• Elina Avanesyan (LL) beat Leolia Jeanjean (WC): 6-0, 7-5
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Magdalena Frech: 6-3, 6-4
• Clara Tauson (Q) beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Irina-Camelia Begu (27) beat Sara Errani: 6-3, 6-0
• Sloane Stephens beat Varvara Gracheva: 6-2, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Iryna Shymanovich (Q): 7-5, 6-2
• Karolina Muchova beat Nadia Podoroska: 6-3, 0-6, 6-3
• Yulia Putintseva beat Qinwen Zheng (19): 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
• Daria Kasatkina (9) beat Marketa Vondrousova: 6-3, 6-4
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Liudmila Samsonova (15): 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Anna Blinkova beat Caroline Garcia (5): 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Anastasia Potapova (24) beat Mayar Sherif: 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Camila Giorgi: 6-2 ret.
• Peyton Stearns beat Jelena Ostapenko (17): 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
• Elina Svitolina beat Storm Hunter (Q): 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Elise Mertens (28) beat Camila Osorio (LL): 6-3, 7-6 (3)

You might also like this

‘I never even played Serena!’ Iga Swiatek on why she doesn’t think about tennis history

tennis majors

“A step forward to the right direction” – Swiatek on French Federation’s technology to block hateful comments on social media

tennis majors

Alert: Swiatek, Rybakina in same half as French Open women’s draw is made

tennis majors

Roland-Garros: A tale of two sets as Swiatek beats Bucsa to make second round

tennis majors