French Open: Iga Swiatek completes the quarter-finals
Iga Swiatek reached the quarter-finals of the French Open with a 6: 3 and 6: 4 success against Marta Kostyuk.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jun 07, 2021, 10:44 pm
The women's competition at the French Open has so far been characterized by big surprises and bitter withdrawals from the tournament. It started before the tournament was even supposed to start, because the clay court specialist Simona Halep had to cancel her appearance in advance. This was followed by the withdrawal of Naomi Osaka, the wo of Ash Barty and the curious injury of Petra Kvitova . And lots of surprises.
A big remaining favorite for the title is emerging: Iga Swiatek from Poland. After a hard-fought two-set win over Marta Kostyuk, this is already in the quarter-finals, in which it is now against the Greek Maria Sakkari, who bowled last year's finalist Sofia Kenin from the tournament in the afternoon. For the defending champion Swiatek it could even be enough for a double this year: The Polish woman is still represented in the double competition.
Swiatek with a tough start
At the beginning of the clash with Kotyuk, Iga Swiatek had a hard time at first, conceding the first break of the game to make it 1: 2. An extremely competitive game followed, in which the 20-year-old finally managed the rebreak. A balanced match developed at a high level between two women who are considered hot stocks for the future of tennis - especially since Marta Kostyuk is two years younger than the sensational winner from last year.
She took advantage of this little routine advantage towards the end of the first set, fended off a break ball when the score was 3: 3 and immediately secured the break to 5: 3 with a placed backhand. With their third set ball, the world rankings closed the first round ninth moments later.
Kostyuk counters
The set win should initially give Swiatek self-confidence, who secured the break advantage again in the third game of the second set. And Marta Kostyuk? The acted a bit hectic now and had to be treated briefly. Although Kotyuk came back a bit out of nowhere with a break in the second round and in the meantime made it 3: 2, then Iga Swiatek turned it up again.
The world number nine increased the number of strokes again, subsequently secured a few tight games and rewarded the game win to 5: 3 with a rarely loud push that was to echo on the deserted Court Philippe-Chatrier. Marta Kostyuk did not want to admit defeat that quickly, the Ukrainian fended off a match point on her own serve with a forehand winner and forced Swiatek to end the match on her own serve. A challenge that the Polish should succeed after 0:30 - Swiatek made the 6: 3 and 6: 4 success perfect after a little more than an hour and a half.
Click here for the draw of the French Open!
rgmap