PARIS – Iga Swiatek underlined her credentials as a firm favourite for the French Open title on Saturday, after serving up double bagels yet again with a 6-0, 6-0 win. But she refused to be swept up in the “Iga’s Bakery” social media craze.
The ruthless world No. 1 thrashed China’s Wang Xinyu without dropping a game to cruise into the fourth round, the second time in a month she had won by the same scoreline after trouncing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Rome.
The 22-year-old Pole has dropped only eight games in three matches at Roland Garros, while nine opponents have lost at least one set 6-0 to her in 2023.
Across 57 matches in 17 Grand Slam appearances in her young career, Swiatek has already won 19 sets to love.
Saturday’s result was no different as she beat Wang in 51 minutes. But when a question about “Iga’s Bakery” was put to her after her victory, her smile vanished before the top seed said she wanted to remain respectful to her opponents.
“Look, I don’t want to really talk about that. I really get why people do that because it’s fun and tennis is entertainment and everything,” she said.
“But from the players’ point of view, I want to be respectful to my opponents. You don’t see the stuff that is behind the scenes – sometimes it’s not easy to play such matches and sometimes it’s not easy also for the opponents. I don’t want to talk about the bakery. Twitter can talk about it, but I’m just going to be focused on tennis.”
On her win over Wang, she added: “Just the fact that I know I keep feeling better and better every day, and that’s kind of what I wanted to achieve in this tournament.
“I’m glad that I kind of feel the rhythm a little bit better every match. I’m just happy that I was disciplined till the end.”
Swiatek, aiming to become the first woman to retain the French Open title since Justine Henin in 2007, will next face Lesia Tsurenko, who lost 6-2, 6-0 to her in Rome in May. The Ukrainian is wary of playing the three-time Grand Slam champion and two-time Roland Garros winner.
“I just had a match against her in Rome, which was good just to feel how she’s playing and to feel the speed of her shots,” Tsurenko said. “But it wasn’t very good for me... she is really strong.
“It was a good lesson for me, so I will try to play better this time. The next match is the biggest challenge on the tour right now because she’s world No. 1.”
Swiatek’s path to the final was made easier earlier on Saturday by the withdrawal of Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, a possible last-four opponent, due to illness. REUTERS, AFP
