World No 1 Iga Swiatek enjoyed a double bagel for breakfast in Paris, trouncing Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The three-time champion took to the court an hour early at 11am local time as organisers attempt to get the schedule back on track following all the rain delays.
And Swiatek took just 40 minutes, one of the shortest matches in Roland Garros history, to dispatch the Russian.
She hit just two unforced errors to Potapova’s 19 and won 94 per cent of points on her first serve.
Out of the 58 points played in the match, 23-year-old Potapova won just 10.
“I was just really focused, in the zone and not really looking at the score, and yeah it went pretty quickly, pretty weird,” said Swiatek.
“Because we played really early with the open roof, it’s always a bit different but it’s still not too warm. It doesn’t feel like summer in Europe but we’ll see what it’s going to be like in two days.”
Potapova was playing in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, but Swiatek took full control of the play and gave her opponent no time to breathe between a flurry of points.
Potapova attacked Swiatek’s serve on the odd occasion to claim a couple of winners, but the Pole’s near-perfect shots left the Russian with no answers as the top seed wrapped up the first set in 19 minutes.
The crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier tried their best to encourage Potapova but Swiatek looked at ease, forcing the Russian into several mistakes as the top seed consolidated her early break.
The only problem Swiatek had was the swirling wind on serve, with the roof finally left open after several days of rain.
Swiatek eventually put her former junior rival Potapova out of her misery, and the world No 41 made a hasty exit from the court. Swiatek will face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-finals.
The 2019 Roland Garros runner-up eased to a 6-4 6-2 fourth-round victory over Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic.
Gauff cruises past Cocciaretto
US Open champion Coco Gauff was far too strong for Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, sealing a 6-1 6-2 win to reach the quarter-finals.
The match began at a frenetic pace, with the 45th-ranked Cocciaretto winning only two points in the first four games on unforced errors by Gauff, the 2022 finalist in Paris.
Cocciaretto regained some confidence at the end of the first set with longer rallies and a few winning shots but Gauff kept the upper hand, losing only one game to her 23-year-old opponent.
Gauff, who landed only 56 per cent of her first serves, suffered a small slump early in the second set, losing her first service game and allowing the Italian to respond.
Cocciaretto managed to win one of her service games but that was not enough to beat Gauff who finished the match in exactly one hour.
In the quarter-final, Gauff, who is bidding to become the first American to win Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015, will face the winner of the match between Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur and Dane Clara Tauson.
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