Swiatek digs herself out of deep hole, Alcaraz powers on at French Open

TimesLIVE

3 days ago

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek clawed her way back from the brink to reach the French Open quarterfinals by defeating her clay court nemesis Elena Rybakina while men's title holder Carlos Alcaraz also went through after a tough workout on Sunday.
Fifth seed Swiatek looked out of sorts as she trailed 6-1 2-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier, leaving the crowd stunned. But Swiatek found her groove and some grit to prevail 1-6 6-3 7-5.
Her final opponent from last year, Jasmine Paolini, was on the wrong end of another last-16 clash against 13th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the Italian wasting three match points in a 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1 defeat.
Svitolina will provide the next test for Swiatek, who continues her quest to become the first female player since tennis turned professional to claim the singles' title four times in a row at Roland Garros.
The only women to win the singles at Roland Garros in four straight years were Jeanne Matthey from 1909-12 and Suzanne Lenglen from 1920-23 when only French players competed.
Since tennis turned professional in 1968, Swiatek is one of three women with Monica Seles and Justine Henin to enjoy three consecutive triumphs in Paris and on Sunday it looked like her quest for a fourth straight was going to crash to a halt.
The 12th-seeded Rybakina made a bullet start, putting Swiatek on the back foot with some powerful baseline play and racing to a 5-0 lead, threatening to inflict on the former world number one her first bagel at a Grand Slam.
'It was as if I was playing [men's world number one and heavy hitter] Jannik Sinner,' Swiatek joked.
If there was any sign that Swiatek was rattled, it was her three double faults at 2-2 in the second set.
The fifth seed still held though and it proved to be a turning point as she went on to break to love and move 4-2 up, bagging 10 consecutive points in the process to send the clash into a decider.
At 4-4, with Rybakina serving at 15-40, the Kazakh appeared to have double-faulted on break point.
Both players were walking towards their benches when chair umpire Kader Nouni's deep voice overruled the line judge's call.
The reversal offered Rybakina an unexpected lifeline as the air filled with electricity.
Swiatek later saved a game point with a blistering forehand winner, but it was Rybakina who ultimately secured the crucial hold, shifting the weight of expectation squarely onto her opponent's shoulders.
Swiatek cooled down and held, then broke and finished it off on the second match point before unleashing a huge scream and bumping her chest in a mix of released anger and relief.
'In the first set, with her playing like that I felt I did not have a single chance,' said Swiatek, who had lost to Rybakina in their two previous encounters on clay.
'Using the top spin was the plan from the beginning but I did not feel she gave me the space to do that. But I'm happy that I was patient enough to stay in the game and use any opportunity that came to me.'
Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen battled on, the Chinese eighth seed overcoming Russia's Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(5) 1-6 6-3, with a potential clash against world number one Aryna Sabalenka looming.
In the men's draw, Carlos Alcaraz etched his name deeper in clay by overcoming American Ben Shelton 7-6(8) 6-3 4-6 6-4 for his 100th tour-level win on the surface to reach the quarterfinals for a fourth successive year.
Victory was far from simple and Alcaraz said he fought against himself in the mind.
'I just tried to calm myself. In some moments I was mad, I was angry with myself. Talking not really good things but I am happy to not let those thoughts play against me,' he added.
'I tried to calm myself down and I tried to keep going.'
Up next for him is world number 12 Tommy Paul, who blitzed Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-3 6-3 to become the first American male player to reach the French Open quarterfinals in 22 years.
Paul matched Andre Agassi's run from 2003 after Americans on Saturday equalled a 40-year-old record with five women and three men reaching round four of the clay court Grand Slam.
Another American in the last eight is Frances Tiafoe, who beat Germany's Daniel Altmaier but will find himself with a mountain to climb in the next round as he takes on Italian craftsman Lorenzo Musetti.
World number seven Musetti beat Denmark's Holger Rune 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-2, showing his impressive palette of clay court game. He has reached at least the semifinals of all three Masters events on the slow surface this season.
Sabalenka battled past 16th-seed Amanda Anisimova 7-5 6-3 to become the first player to reach the quarterfinals in 10 straight Grand Slams since American Serena Williams between 2014-17.
The Belarusian squandered a total of seven match points before seeing off Anisimova to set up a clash with Zheng.