French Open day seven: Coco Gauff wins teenage battle as Iga Swiatek marches on

By Sports Desk June 03, 2023

Coco Gauff fought off the challenge of 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva to reach the fourth round of the French Open.

Gauff came back from a set down to defeat the Russian 6-7 (5) 6-1 6-1 while Iga Swiatek hammered Wang Xinyu 6-0 6-0, but Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw because of illness.

In the men’s event, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune are on track for a quarter-final meeting, while Alexander Zverev defeated Frances Tiafoe in the night match.

Picture of the dayStat of the dayShot of the dayJunior progress

Cameron Norrie’s third-round exit completed a miserable French Open for Britain’s senior singles players but, after several years of very little junior presence, there are six British competitors in the main draws of the boys’ and girls’ singles, including 14-year-old qualifier Hannah Klugman.

Fallen seeds

Men: Taylor Fritz (9), Frances Tiafoe (12), Borna Coric (15)

Women: Elena Rybakina (4), Ekaterina Alexandrova (23)

Who’s up next?

 

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Novak Djokovic will hope to have a more comfortable afternoon than against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina when he takes on Juan Pablo Varillas in the fourth round.

Carlos Alcaraz meets Lorenzo Musetti while the first women’s night session of the year sees Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka meet former finalist Sloane Stephens.

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will bid to keep his strong form going against Sebastian Ofner while Elina Svitolina meets Russian Daria Kasatkina.

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  • Swiatek passes Kerber test to reach Italian Open quarter-finals Swiatek passes Kerber test to reach Italian Open quarter-finals

    Two-time Italian Open champion Iga Swiatek advanced to the quarter-finals of this year's tournament with an impressive 7-5 6-3 win over Angelique Kerber on Monday.

    Three-time grand slam winner Kerber provided Swiatek with a real step up after routine victories over Bernarda Pera and Yulia Putintseva in the first two rounds on the clay in Rome.

    Kerber responded to Swiatek's first break – which came in the eighth game – with one of her own, but the world number one then recaptured her composure to force a series of break points in Kerber's next two service games, finally converting at the eighth attempt to take the opener. 

    Kerber refused to go away, breaking straight back in the first game of the second set, but Swiatek upped her game to take the contest away from the 36-year-old.

    Swiatek dropped just three further points on her own serve from there, adding three breaks of her own to set up a last-eight meeting with Madison Keys for Tuesday. 

    Data Debrief: Swiatek unmatched on clay

    While Kerber rolled back the years to trouble Swiatek early on, she lacked the staying power to live with the world number one in longer rallies on a surface where she is truly unmatched. 

    Her win ratio at clay-court events at WTA 1000-level now stands at 88.2 per cent (30 wins, four defeats), the best of any player to have played a minimum of five matches since the format's 2009 introduction, ahead of Serena Williams at 88 per cent. 

  • Osaka sees encouraging Italian Open run halted by Zheng in last 16 Osaka sees encouraging Italian Open run halted by Zheng in last 16

    Naomi Osaka's promising Italian Open run was halted by Zheng Qinwen on Monday, as the seventh seed denied the four-time grand slam champion a quarter-final place.

    Following Saturday's triumph over Daria Kasatkina – her second successive straight-sets win over a top-20 opponent in Rome – Osaka laughed off the "Clayomi" moniker given to her by some fans.

    On Monday, her old troubles on the surface came back to the fore as Zheng dominated from the off to make the tournament's last eight for a second straight year, winning 6-2 6-4.

    Osaka saw her serve broken in the very first game only to hit straight back, but Zheng assumed control by taking seven straight games to go from 2-1 down in the opener to 2-0 up in the second set.

    The 21-year-old produced a clinical performance and converted all four of her break points, winning 78 per cent of first-serve points to Osaka's 68 per cent as she teed up a quarter-final clash with either Coco Gauff or Paula Badosa.

    Data Debrief: 'Clayomi' no more as Zheng triumphs

    Osaka impressed on a surface long regarded as her worst in Italy, but it was a bridge too far for her on Monday, Zheng reaching her fourth WTA 1000 quarter-final.

    Since the format's introduction in 2009, she is just the second Asian player to reach multiple quarter-finals on both hardcourts and clay at that level before the age of 23, the other being Osaka.

  • Djokovic bemoans 'completely off' performance after early Italian Open exit Djokovic bemoans 'completely off' performance after early Italian Open exit

    Novak Djokovic lamented his dismal showing as Alejandro Tabilo profited from the world number one's "completely off" performance to triumph at the Italian Open.

    Tabilo stunned Djokovic with a straight-sets victory in the third round on Sunday, winning 6-2, 6-3 in his maiden ATP Tour clash with the Serbian.

    The Chilean advances to the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time after Indian Wells in 2023, with Djokovic unable to explain his struggles in Rome.

    "I just wasn't able to find any kind of good feelings on the court, to be honest, striking the ball. I was completely off," he said.

    A six-time champion in Rome, the 36-year-old won his opening-round match at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Corentin Moutet.

    However, Djokovic was inadvertently hit on the head by a falling water bottle when leaving the court after that victory.

    Whether that incident impacted his performance against Tabilo remains to be seen.

    "I don't know, to be honest. I have to check that," he said. "Training was different. I was going for [a] kind of easy training yesterday.

    "I didn't feel anything, but I also didn't feel the same. Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance.

    "Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don't know. I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on."

    Tabilo's next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, who saw off Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, while Djokovic is made to wait for his 1100th match win.

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