PARIS — Defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek joined No.1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round of the French Open on Friday and neither player has dropped a set so far.
Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam winner who has only once reached the semifinals at the French Open, beat Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3 on Court Philippe Chatrier, where Friday’s hot weather contrasted with previous days.
“The ball flies much faster,” Sabalenka said. “The bounces are much higher.”
Swiatek, who has won four of her five major titles at Roland Garros, defeated Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 7-5 on Court Suzanne Lenglen to extend her French Open winning streak to 23 matches. But a second set lasting 1 hour, 16 minutes tested the 23-year-old Polish player, who yelled in relief after winning on her second match point.
“She used her chances and just went for it,” said Swiatek, who enjoyed temperatures which reached 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit). “For sure I don’t mind. On clay it gives the balls the extra bounce.”
Sabalenka and Swiatek, who had 20 winners and 21 unforced errors in her win, have been in contrasting form.
The 27-year-old Sabalenka has reached six singles finals this year, the most for a woman entering Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2013.
But Swiatek is looking to reach her first final anywhere since winning her third straight French Open title, and fourth overall, here last year.
Swiatek is looking to become the first woman to win here four successive times in the Open era. Her first title came in 2020. Her other major was in 2022 at the US Open.
Asked who was under the most pressure to win this year’s French Open — her or Swiatek — Sabalenka said, jokingly: “Let’s just leave it on Iga since she won it, what, three times in a row?”
Swiatek will now face Elena Rybakina, who brushed aside 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-2 in a duel of heavy hitters on Friday.
The 12th-seeded Rybakina, who came to Roland Garros fresh from her Strasbourg Open run to the title, was not impressed by Ostapenko’s flurry of missiles as she prevailed with a forehand winner down the line on the first match point.
“The fast conditions make it difficult to control the ball but it definitely helps for the serve,” said Rybakina.
“I had some ups and downs but happy with the way it went today.”
In other women’s play, fourth-seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy eased past Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva in straight sets.
Starodubtseva, looking to earn her first career win over a top 10 player, was no match for last year’s French Open finalist who will next face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Bernarda Pera.
“It was a good match after a few games. In the beginning I was not feeling really well. The conditions are different today from previous rounds,” Paolini said post-match.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen beat 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko 6-3, 6-4, while No. 16 Amanda Anisimova and Liudmila Samsonova also advanced.
In remaining third-round women’s play, former US Open champion Coco Gauff faces Marie Bouzkova on Court Philippe Chatrier, and No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the runner-up at last year’s US Open, plays former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova earlier on the same court.
There is also an all-American contest on Court Suzanne Lenglen between current Australian Open champion Madison Keys and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who won that major in 2020, the year she went on to lose in the French Open final to Swiatek.
Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this story.
