Iga Swiatek kept her French Open title defence and an impressive Grand Slam streak alive with a convincing win over Emma Raducanu.
The world No 5 faced little trouble in a blockbuster second-round contest inside Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday, breezing past fellow Grand Slam winner Raducanu 6-1, 6-2.
Swiatek’s triumph continues her dominant head-to-head over Raducanu, with the Pole having won all five matches – and all 10 sets – the two have contested.
“I just want to play my game,” said Swiatek.
“For sure, I felt good on court. I felt I could do whatever I planned to, whatever I wanted to. I just needed to adjust to the wind as conditions were pretty tricky today.
“I’m happy that I did that well and that I’m through.”
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Victory for Swiatek was her 23rd straight win at the French Open, the Pole having not lost at this tournament since a 2021 quarter-final loss to Maria Sakkari.
The Pole now holds a staggering 37-2 record overall at the tournament, with her only other defeat coming to Simona Halep on her tournament debut back in 2019.
This year’s Roland Garros also represents the 21st straight Grand Slam tournament where the world No 5 has reached at least the third round.
Swiatek has not tasted defeat before round three at a major since her US Open debut in 2019, where she was beaten in the second round by 12th seed Anastasija Sevastova.
In the Open Era, only Martina Navratilova (35), Conchita Martinez (30), and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (25) have achieved more consecutive round-three appearances at Grand Slams.
Defeat for Raducanu ends her hopes on clay for another year, though she will take positives from her opening-round win on Monday, beating Xinyu Wang in her first Roland Garros match since 2022.
Victory over the Chinese helped propel Raducanu back into the top 40 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in over three and a half years, with the Brit currently 37th in the live rankings.
However, her second-round defeat means that she has missed the chance to potentially move further up the rankings – and boost her Wimbledon hopes.
Had she stunned Swiatek, Raducanu would have moved up two places to world No 35 in the WTA Live Rankings, just below current British No 1 Katie Boulter.
With her clay swing now over, the 22-year-old will look to boost her hopes of a Wimbledon seeding when the grass court season begins.
Raducanu has semi-final points to defend in Nottingham before the seeding cut-off one week before the Championships, meaning it is touch and go as to whether she will be ranked inside the top 32 by then.
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