The Polish top talent Iga Swiatek celebrated her greatest triumph so far at the French Open – and how!
In the round of 16 in Paris, the unseeded Swiatek defeated the number 1 seeded Romanian Simona Halep. The current world number two, French Open winner 2018 and Wimbledon champion 2019, practically went under against the 19-year-old, lost in the end with 1: 6, 2: 6. It is the biggest defeat of a top seeded player in the history of the French Open. In the quarter-finals, Swiatek meets the qualifier Martina Trevisan from Italy, who also managed a surprise with a 6: 4, 6: 4 against the fifth seeded Kiki Bertens (Netherlands).
In the third round Swiatek had already thrown the regained Eugenie Bouchard out of the tournament, but this coup is on another level.
Iga Swiatek “surprised” after defeating Halep
“I’m surprised by myself,” said Swiatek after the match with a trembling voice: “A dream has come true.” She impressed Halep, who was in first position, with fireworks in the first set and beat 17 winners. Halep quickly fell behind in the second round too, Swiatek repeatedly had breakballs. Halep fought but couldn’t find a recipe against her opponent.
This makes the Ukrainian Elina Switolina the last remaining player from the top 5 in the world rankings in Paris. World number one Ashleigh Barty (Australia) canceled for Paris, as did US Open winner Naomi Osaka (Japan), while number two seed Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) failed in the second round.
Laura Siegemund will be the last German player to fight the Spaniard Paula Badosa for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday.
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Swiatek daughter of an Olympic rower
Swiatek, daughter of the Polish rower Tomasz Swiatek – part of the Polish double foursome at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul – had made a great promise at the junior level. Among other things, she won the youth competition at Wimbledon in 2018.
The Australian Open 2019, in which she reached round 2 as a qualifier, was her premiere on the WTA tour. At the French Open 2019, she made it to the round of 16 – where she failed at Halep, with 1: 6, 0: 6. Nevertheless, her first season was so successful that she made it into the top 50 of the world rankings.
Before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, it was in 48th place, and the trend is clearly rising. She has also participated in the Fed Cup for her country. The lesson she has now given Halep suggests that much more can be expected from her.
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With sports information service (SID)
