Three-time champion and women’s World No.1 Iga Swiatek perfectly celebrated her birthday as she romped into the fourth round of the French Open, beating Czech Marie Bouzkova in straight sets on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Friday.
Swiatek became the seventh player into the women’s fourth round, beating Czech Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2 at Stade Roland Garros to set up a clash with Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round. Potapova overcame China’s Xinyu Wang 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4 in a third-round match on Court 14.
Tunisian star Ons Jabeur also made it into the second week after negotiating a tricky test against Leylah Fernandez from Canada. Jabeur sealed a 6-4, 7-6(5) win in a third-round encounter. The eighth seed was a point from being forced into a decider late in the second but managed to quell the fightback. Jabeur, a three-time major finalist, next plays Denmark’s Clara Tauson in the fourth round on Sunday.
In other matches, Denmark’s Clara Tauson advanced into the fourth round at a major for the first time, beating former runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-2, 7-5. Another runner-up here in recent years, Marketa Vondrousova, cruised through against French wildcard Chloe Paquet 6-1, 6-3.
The Polish two-time defending French Open champion took care of business, spending her 23rd birthday on the court to safely seal a berth in the Round of 16 for the sixth year in a row.
Swiatek had saved four match points on her way to victory in what many pundits called the match of the tournament against Naomi Osaka in the second round.
On Friday, Swiatek found it much easier to control the outcome of points against World No.42 Bouzkova — who had beaten No.29 seed Veronika Kudermetova in Paris’ opening round but missed much of the clay-court season due to injury and played just two matches in the six weeks before Roland Garros.
In her first-ever meeting against Bouzkova, Swiatek broke serve four times, doubled Bouzkova’s total of winners, and won seven of the last nine games in 1 hour and 33 minutes on the court in total.
American Coco Gauff too advanced to the Round of 16 with a straight-sets victory against Dayana Yastremska. Her 6-2, 6-4 victory sent her flying into the second week at Roland Garros — and had her nasty return game to thank.
The No.3-seeded Gauff won five of Yastremska’s nine service games (56 percent), against a player who reached the Australian Open semifinals as a qualifier earlier this year. In three matches here, Gauff’s a sizzling 15-for-25.