Iga Swiatek continued her impressive performance at the French Open and defeated number one seed Simona Halep in the round of 16 of the French Open 6: 1, 6: 2. The unseeded 19-year-old gave the world number two no chance and turned her second match point after 68 minutes. It is the biggest defeat of a top seeded player in the history of the French Open. “This week is a dream come true for me and I hope it continues,” said Swiatek after the game.
Last year it was Halep who made it through to the quarter-finals in a hurry against Swiatek, who was ten years his junior. In 45 minutes, the Romanian had only given one game. This year it was to be different. Halep, who had previously won 17 games in a row, got through the tournament in Paris without any problems. But Swiatek had only given up 13 games in just under three hours in the three matches up to the round of 16.
Halep still seemed surprised by the active style of play of the ten-year-old Pole, who converted her second set ball after 26 minutes, a 13-stroke rally and a longline forehand winner.
Halep then left the field, not an unusual move for the 29-year-old, who tries to collect himself in order to start again. In the middle of the second set it briefly seemed as if she had actually found her game, Swiatek made a few more mistakes than in the first round. With a score of 1: 5, Halep still won her service game, but could no longer prevent the defeat. After about an hour, Halep Swiatek’s second match ball returned to the net.
“I’ll eat chocolate and then I’ll be better tomorrow,” said the defeated Romanian afterwards. Halep only had words of praise for her opponent: “She played unbelievably, was everywhere and hit all the balls very strong and powerful. It was a bit cold and I couldn’t do my best. It was her game today.”
Another tournament surprise awaits
In the quarter-finals, Swiatek and Martina Trevisan encounter an equally big tournament surprise: the qualifier defeated Kiki Bertens, who was fifth, 6: 4, 6: 4. Bertens had already fought for her preliminary round success under convulsions.
“I came here two weeks ago to play the qualification and today I’m in the quarter-finals. I can’t believe it,” said the 26-year-old Italian, who will climb from 159th place in the world rankings on Monday .
