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Ruthless Iga Swiatek dishes out tennis masterclass to double bagel helpless Wang Xinyu

Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who has battled pollen allergies in the past, was forced to pull out of French Open due to viral illness

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Poland's Iga Swiatek did not drop a single game during her third round match against China's Xinyu Wang. - Reuters

By Reuters

Published: Sat 3 Jun 2023, 10:04 PM

Top seed Iga Swiatek pulverised Wang Xinyu of China 6-0 6-0 on Saturday with a flawless display to stay firmly on course to successfully defend her French Open title and fire a warning to her rivals.

Swiatek, aiming to win her third trophy in Paris in five years, showed no weaknesses as she cruised into the fourth round.

She has now dropped just eight games in her three matches in Paris, while winning four of the six sets she has played to love.

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"It was a very strong performance from me and I was happy I was disciplined and took care of everything," Swiatek said. "Every point is important for me and at the highest level every point matters," the 22-year-old world number one added."

She said while people got excited over double bagels there was always the danger of becoming complacent.

"I always try to kind of be careful, because you don't want to get lazy after winning these matches. It's never easy to win these matches," she told a press conference.

"But on the other hand, sometimes all your head can remember is the score, and I always want to kind of be ready for every situation."

She wasted little time to show who was in charge, breaking the Chinese world number 80 three times to seal the first set in 28 minutes.

Wang's strong forehand was supposed to be a major weapon but instead it let her down, with the Chinese piling up a dozen unforced errors en route to the first of two bagels.

Swiatek, who had also managed the double bagel feat in Rome last month, refused to be drawn into Wang's power rallies and instead made her opponent run.

She ended her masterclass after 51 minutes with a lucky net cord on her first match point. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)

Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina said she was out of breath during the warm-up before her match against Sorribes Tormo. - AP

Earlier, fourth seed Elena Rybakina pulled out of the French Open ahead of her third-round meeting with Sara Sorribes Tormo on Saturday due to a viral illness as the Roland Garros tournament lost one of its main contenders for the women's title.

Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion said she had been unwell for the last two days and was out of breath during the warm-up before her match against Sorribes Tormo on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"I wasn't feeling good yesterday and the day before so I didn't sleep two nights and had some fever," Rybakina, who has battled pollen allergies in the past, told reporters.

"Today I really tried during the warm-up but I feel that the right decision is to withdraw because it's really tough to play in this condition.

"I saw the doctor, and they said that actually it's all a virus here in Paris. I guess with my allergy, my immune system just went down and I picked up something."

Kazakhstan's Rybakina, 23, was among the title favourites alongside holder Iga Swiatek and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka after winning the Rome title in the build-up to the claycourt Grand Slam.

"I'm really upset not be able to play, but I guess that's life," Rybakina added. "There is a lot of ups and downs. Today I just wanted to give 930, and obviously I'm far from being 930.

"I was actually coming positive here, but you never know how you're going to feel. It was unlucky for me. I'll try to recover and do my best to be prepared for the grass season already."

Moscow-born Rybakina said she hoped to be fully fit for the European grasscourt swing ahead of her Wimbledon title defence.

"Well, for now the focus for sure is to get better. But the plan was to play Berlin, Eastbourne and Wimbledon," she said.

"There is not many tournaments on grass, but it's most important to get healthy again. That's the plan."

Norway's Casper Ruud celebrates winning his third round match against China's Zhizhen Zhang - Reuters

Meanwhile,Last year’s finalist Casper Ruud rallied to beat Zhang Zhizhen in the third round of the men's division ending a strong run by the Chinese player.

The fourth-seeded Ruud, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s final, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

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Spain's Sorribes Tormo moves into the fourth round where she will take on 23rd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Reuters

Published: Sat 3 Jun 2023, 10:04 PM

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