Swiatek advances at French Open

AFP | Paris

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Iga Swiatek booked her place in the last 16 of the French Open yesterday.

Four-time women’s champion Swiatek beat Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4 to begin play on Court Philippe Chatrier, with temperatures set to climb to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) later in the day.

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

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

She overcame a stumble as she tried to close it out, before sealing victory to set up an intriguing match-up with the inform Marta Kostyuk.

“It was a good match. I played much better than Miami,” said Swiatek, who moved to appoint Francisco Roig, a longtime coach of Rafael Nadal, in the wake of her loss to Linette two months ago.

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

She is unbeaten in 15 matches on clay this season following titles in Madrid and Rouen. “Marta is having a great season. She always had a game to play well,” said Swiatek.

“So good for her. But I’m going to focus on myself, prepare tactically, as before any other match, and we’ll see.”

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva swept into the last 16 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Czech 27th seed Marie Bouzkova.

The eighth-seeded Andreeva goes on to face either 2023 French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova or Jil Teichmann on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals.

Andreeva’s best Grand Slam run came at Roland Garros in 2024 when she reached the semi-finals.