French Open 2022
Dates: May 22-Jun 5
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
World number one Iga Swiatek racked up her 31st straight win to reach the French Open last 16 on Saturday (May 28) but only after being tested by Danka Kovinic of Montenegro. Swiatek, the 2020 champion in Paris, dropped serve three times against her 95th-ranked opponent before sealing a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Hot favourite Iga Swiatek came through her toughest test yet to reach the French Open last 16 as the draw continued to open up for her in Paris. The world number one beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-3 7-5.
While not reaching a level as high as her previous two victories, the 20-year-old from Poland still had too much quality for the world number 95.
She is now the sole top-10 seed left in the women's draw after exits by Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa on Saturday.
Seventh seed Sabalenka was beaten 4-6 6-1 6-0 by Italian Camila Giorgi, while Spanish third seed Badosa retired injured while trailing Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 2-1.
Swiatek will face Chinese world number 74 Zheng Qinwen in the fourth round.
The 2020 champion, who extended her winning streak to 31 matches, is yet to face a seeded player at Roland Garros this year.
"I wanted to play aggressively and sometimes I thought I was putting in too much power. Sometimes it was hard to control at full speed," said Swiatek, who had her serve broken three times by Kovinic.
"I tried to play with less pace and be more consistent in the rallies. She did a good job at defending, hitting back at full speed."
After rapid wins against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko and Alison Riske of the United States, the match against Kovinic required a little more problem solving.
The 27-year-old Montenegrin is an aggressive baseliner who managed to push Swiatek deeper on the court than her earlier opponents, forcing the top seed into making more mistakes than she previously had.
That first became evident in a second game where wayward hitting contributed to Swiatek not taking her first four break points.
The pressure eventually told on Kovinic as Swiatek did break and then led 3-0, although she did not run away with opening set as those watching on Court Philippe Chatrier would have imagined she might.
Four more unforced errors from her usually infallible forehand handed the break back to Kovinic for 4-3, but her ruthlessness returned to regain the lead in the next game and serve out the opening set.
There were more difficulties to overcome in the second set.
From trailing 4-1, Kovinic fought back with four games on the bounce – including two breaks – as she put pressure on Swiatek's second serve and reaped the rewards.
However, she lost serve at 5-5 from 30-0 and Swiatek served out the match to reach the second week of a Grand Slam event for the eighth time in the past nine majors.
