Defending champion books her fifth successive spot in the Roland-Garros third round
©Julien Crosnier / FFTWorld No.1 Iga Swiatek celebrated her 22nd birthday in style on Wednesday at Roland-Garros.
Posting a polaroid picture on social media, the reigning champion revealed her team had gifted her a large portion of her favourite dessert, tiramisu, and a Lego model to construct Rome's Colosseum.
The Pole proved she is building momentum once again within the Colosseum of tennis, Court Philippe-Chatrier, dismissing her latest challenger Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 to move into the third round on Thursday.
The three-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be one step ahead in the opening duels, firing a brace of return winners and a sweeping inside-out forehand winner to soar 3-0 up on the American.
Liu, attempting to book a maiden third round spot at a major, capitalised on some erratic errors from the top seed to level at 3-3 with half an hour on the clock.
Her ferocious forehand recalibrated, Swiatek struck a trio of winners off that wing to restore order, before serving out the disjointed set to love.
As the pristine terre battue was being sprayed with water by the ground staff, the world No.1 stood at the backboards, air-hitting her groundstrokes, seeking more intensity in the second set.
It worked, the 22-year-old regained purpose in her shots and then produced a magical moment. On the slide to her left, over the tramline, Swiatek guided a backhand over the net post and down the line to carve out another 3-0 lead.
This time the Pole didn't let world No.102 Liu back in and stormed towards a last-32 meeting with world No.80 Wang Xinyu.
Swiatek is such a consistent performer, she still hasn’t lost to a player outside the top 100 on clay courts since April 2019. At the Prague Open, just over four years ago, a wildcard Karolina Muchova defeated Swiatek from a set down ranked at No.106.
The 22-year-old now holds a 23-2 record at Roland-Garros. In the Open Era, only Chris Evert and Monica Seles (both 24) claimed more wins in their opening 25 singles contests in Paris.
Facing Liu, the serve wasn't quite on the money for Swiatek. The Pole landed 32 out of 58 first serves, winning 66 per cent of those points. That enabled Liu to attack on second serve too, creating 10 break point opportunities.
Saying that, the reigning champion was resolute on the back foot and saved eight of Liu's break chances.
Match reaction from the Pole: "Yeah it wasn't easy at all, especially when we're constantly switching sides, one time with the wind, one time against.
"I needed to adjust to that. I'm very happy I learned from the first set and played a lot better in the second set.
"Patience is so important on clay. It's so easy to reset the rally. I'm that kind of player who just needs to get used to the wind. I'm just still trying to get the rhythm. You just have to feel it."
Birthday reflections: "For sure I wasn't partying, obviously. Every year I'm just trying to keep it cool. I'm enjoying the gifts and the small things from my team.
"It's mostly about getting the feeling, thinking about what happened in the last year. I'm not a party person, maybe after the tournament, but I'm a pretty chilled person."
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
