Iga Swiatek v Marie Bouzkova: Things we learned

Swiatek savours smoother day at the office

In a match former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport deemed the highest-quality second round she had seen at Roland-Garros, Swiatek had the challenge of hitting reset on her emotions and recovering in time physically to do it all again on Friday after that three-hour thriller against Osaka.

It was a showdown that left both players in tears, such was the release of so much pent up tension.

Swiatek dispelled any concerns of a letdown in her match against world No.42 Bouzkova, a player she had never faced.

“Honestly, I think this is the advantage of having one day off because sometimes it's harder to, you know, keep the routine or something, but this time actually it helped because yesterday I wasn't even practising, also because of the rain,” Swiatek said.

“So, yeah, I could reset, and I could also rest physically because this match was for sure demanding. I felt good today. Like, I can just proceed with having a solid tournament even though I was in trouble against Naomi for sure.”

The champ has awoken

Swiatek saved a match point at 3-5 down in the third set against Osaka and that could spark genuine cause for alarm among other title pretenders.

Emboldened by the great escape, she shaped as an even more dangerous prospect as she took another step closer to a fourth Roland-Garros crown.

Swiatek has now won 31 of her 33 matches in Paris. Only seven-time champion Chris Evert and four-time champion Monica Seles have reached 30 match wins with fewer defeats (one).

After the intensity of her second-round scrap, Swiatek was not sweating over a disrupted night’s rest before her third-round encounter.

“How was my sleep? Decent. Better than I thought,” she said. “It didn't really matter because I had the day off yesterday so I could catch up.”

Swiatek avoids successive Czech third-round boilovers

A tough draw at this year’s Australian Open required Swiatek to hold off former champion Sofia Kenin and stage a stirring comeback against former finalist Danielle Collins just to reach the last 32.

Czech teenager Linda Noskova then proved a bridge too far in the upset of the tournament. Fortunately for her, there was no such repeat unfolding on Chatrier.

The pressure came early and Bouzkova surrendered the first break on a double fault.

Just when the first set looked done and dusted though she pegged back one of the two breaks when her opponent served for it. Swiatek was unperturbed and at the second time of asking her weight of shot drew the backhand error and with it, the set.

Despite a slight wobble when serving for the match, Swiatek moved comfortably through to a meeting with unseeded fellow 23-year-old Anastasia Potapova.

“I enjoyed playing today,” Swiatek said. “Marie's a difficult player because she's really good at defence. Every ball will come back, so I really wanted to be patient and solid and not rush it. I'm happy at the end that I did that.”

Lego Poland pays special tribute

Such is the Pole’s standing back home that Lego Poland released a special advertisement for her birthday featuring a Lego Iga competing on court, waiting for a chef’s tiramisu, at a bakery – a reference to her penchant for one-sided sets – and reading a book.

An apt summary of the world No.1, it could even have included Swiatek decompressing in a Parisian park.

After on-court interviewer Fabrice Santoro and the defending champion were unable to establish which park she spent her day off visiting on Thursday, Swiatek soon after took to social media to clarify it was the National Estate of Saint-Cloud.

On court and off it, this is clearly one 23-year-old unwilling to leave any loose ends untied.