Swiatek wins 6-0 6-0 in 40 minutes to reach Paris quarters

It took just 40 minutes for Iga Swiatek to record a crushing 6-0, 6-0 victory over Anastasia Potapova and reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.

The two-time defending champion showed why she is the heavy favorite for the title with a relentlessly dominant performance.

Top seed Swiatek won 48 points, compared to 10 earned by world number 41 Potapova, and did not face a single break point.

It was the fastest victory of Swiatek’s career and the second-shortest completed match at Roland Garros after Steffi Graf’s 32-minute triumph over Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 final.

“It was pretty quick,” Swiatek said.

“I was very focused and in the zone. I wasn’t looking at the scoreboard, so I just kept working on my game.”

She will face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova after the Czech ended Serbia’s Olga Danilovic’s streak 6-4, 6-2.

US Open winner Coco Gauff made light work of Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winning 6-1, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Ons Jabeur or Clara Tauson.

The statistics tell most of the story: Swiatek made only two unforced errors, won 94% of points on her first serve, and was within 0 five times.

She took the first set in 19 minutes and showed only frustration when she missed two break points on Potapova’s serve in the second set, before taking the third.

It was a far cry from her second-round match against four-time major winner Naomi Osaka, where she had to save a match point before advancing in three tough sets.

If she retains her title, Swiatek will be the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to win the French Open singles three times in a row.

Swiatek is on a streak of 18 consecutive victories at Roland Garros and has not lost since the 2021 quarterfinals.

He is also riding a 16-match winning streak on clay courts this season, having claimed major titles in Madrid and Rome before arriving in Paris.

Slam champions Gauff and Vondrousova progress

Fifth-seeded Vondrousova, who surprised Jabeur by winning Wimbledon last year, is in form at Roland Garros, having lost to Ashleigh Barty in the 2019 final.

He has had a mixed start to the year, but reached the semi-finals on the clay of Stuttgart in the build-up to Roland Garros.

He recovered from an early break against Danilovic and saved four of the five break points he faced on his way to victory.

Gauff is also a former Roland Garros finalist, having finished runner-up to the ever-dominant Swiatek in 2021.

Unlike many American players, Gauff has plenty of experience on clay, having won the Roland Garros women’s title as a junior in 2018.

She took advantage of all her experience against Cocciaretto, who had strong leg straps and seemed to be feeling the effects of reaching the second week of a major for the first time.

Third seed Gauff moved well and played with excellent control, breaking early in both sets and shaking off five double faults to close out the victory in 60 minutes.

“I’m lucky: I’ve been able to train on clay since I was 10, which is not common for Americans,” Gauff said.

“I like to slide and sometimes I surprise myself.”