Iga Swiatek qualifies for French Open last 16

PARIS – Four-time champion Iga Swiatek has again built on the Rafael Nadal “energy”, as she progressed to the last 16 of the French Open on Friday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Magda Linette in an all-Polish encounter.

She advances to face in-form Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who is unbeaten in 14 matches on clay this season following titles in Madrid and Rouen.

Third seed Swiatek dug herself out of an early 2-0 hole against her 35th-ranked opponent who won their most recent meeting at Miami in March.

She broke three times in the opening set to nose ahead, and then surged into a 4-1 lead in the second set.

Swiatek then overcame a stumble as she tried to close it out, before wrapping up victory in one hour and 25 minutes on another hot day at Roland Garros.

“Sometimes I just wanted to be really patient because it’s really easy in these conditions to go for a winner and then miss, so I wanted to stay solid,” said Swiatek.

“For sure my forehand top spin did the right job. But overall I am happy with the second serve and the way I was solid.”

The talk surrounding Swiatek has been how she has recently hired Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francisco Roig to work with her.

She was asked about it again and she revealed some things she learnt from Nadal during this time.

“I am super happy he was able to come to some of my practices. It gave me a lot of motivation and extra energy before the clay-court season to work even harder,” she said.

“Just having him behind me and watching gave me so much will to play every shot possible. There were some technical tips but the most you can take from Rafa is his approach to the game and him showing that it’s not always easy.

“There is a lot behind the scenes and even the best players in the world sometimes struggle. He used to get over it and work on this stuff and never give up. He also could give some stories with me, he was really open to giving advice and I really appreciate that.”

Next up is Kostyuk, the 15th seed who continued her fine run earlier with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic.

In the men’s draw, Andrey Rublev battled into the last 16 for the second straight year as the 11th seed sealed a 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2) win over Portugal’s Nuno Borges.

The Russian is among several players looking for their maiden Grand Slam title after the men’s competition was blown wide open following top seed Jannik Sinner’s loss on Thursday.

He takes on either eighth-seed Australian Alex de Minaur or Czech 26th seed Jakub Mensik next.

In other news, Victoria Mboko said it was up to American great Serena Williams to announce her comeback to the sport as media speculation intensified about their potential doubles partnership at next month’s Queen’s Club Championships in London.

Williams, who won the last of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles in 2017 and has not competed since the 2022 US Open, can officially enter tournaments after rejoining the tennis anti-doping testing pool last year.

The 44-year-old said in August 2022 that she was “evolving away from tennis” and has not responded to Reuters requests for comment on her comeback.

Multiple British media reports on Thursday said Williams will team up with 19-year-old Canadian Mboko after requesting a wildcard for the doubles tournament at Queen’s Club.

“Yeah, I’m very happy. Serena and I have stayed in touch, which is really nice, because I really look up to her. The fact that she even knows me is very exciting,” Mboko said, without confirming Serena’s comeback.

“I feel like if she’s ready to come back on her own terms, then I feel like it’s up to her to announce that, but other than that, I don’t really have much to say.” REUTERS, AFP