Sports

Swiatek wins 30th straight match to advance to French Open 3rd round

Paris, May 26 (EFE).- Polish world No. 1 Iga Swiatek ran her winning streak to 30 straight matches with a commanding 6-0, 6-2 victory Thursday over American Alison Riske in French Open second-round action.

Striking the ball with extreme precision and depth off both forehand and backhand, the 2020 Roland Garros champion raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead before the 43rd-ranked Riske finally got on the scoreboard.

A few games later, she clinched her routine victory by forcing her opponent into striking a backhand well over the baseline.

“I just want to keep going. I’m aware some day my streak may stop, so I’m working every day to be 100 percent focused on my tennis and not on stats or some numbers,” Swiatek, who has won consecutive events in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome and has not lost since mid-February, said afterward.

“I’m focused on being in a bubble, which will help me to stay consistent. I’ve been doing that the past few weeks and I’ll keep doing that here,” she added, referring to her mindset ahead of Saturday’s third-round match against Montenegrin Danka Kovinic.

Spanish world No. 3 Paula Badosa, meanwhile, had a much more complicated day at the office on Thursday, overcoming 68th-ranked Slovenian Kaja Juvan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Both players showed plenty of firepower from the back of the court, although the Spaniard’s clear edge on serve proved decisive in both the first and third sets.

In the decider, Badosa earned three service breaks to clinch victory in two hours and 27 minutes and set up a third-round match-up against Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.

Afterward, she said she cannot afford to become overconfident and look past any opponent.

“You saw it today. I had to fight a lot to win the match, so I think the level is very high right now and you can lose against anyone.”

In other women’s singles action on Thursday, seventh-ranked Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka cruised past American Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3, but eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova was upset by 227th-ranked Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean 6-2, 6-2 and China’s Qinwen Zheng rallied to defeat 2018 champion Simona Halep of Romania 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. EFE

/mc

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