World number 1 and trophy holder Iga Swiatek joined world number 6 Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros on Monday, for a repeat of the 2022 final, benefiting from the retirement after six games of the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (66th). Tsurenko gave up after about thirty minutes of play, when she was trailing 5 games to 1 by Swiatek. At the previous change of side, seeming to have difficulty breathing and feeling dizzy, the 34-year-old Ukrainian had called the doctor, who was seen taking her blood pressure.
Earlier in the day, Gauff dismissed the Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (100th) 7-5, 6-2 in around 1h30 min. “I would say I have something like Rybakina, a virus or something like that,” Tsurenko compared. World number 4 Elena Rybakina, sick, withdrew moments before her third round on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, it got worse”
“I couldn’t train yesterday (Sunday), and today (Monday) it was difficult to warm up but I was hoping that I would feel a little bit better when I started the game. Unfortunately, it got worse so I had to quit,” she continued. “I started to feel it very slightly before my previous match, I had a sore throat, but physically it was fine. It really started after. I had a bad night, and yesterday I trained maybe be ten minutes, my heart rate was too high, and I have had a very congested nose for the past two days,” Tsurenko said.
For Swiatek, on the other hand, everything is fine. Since the start of her fortnight in Paris, the 22-year-old Polish has not missed a single set. She has even already inflicted four 6-0s on her opponents, one in the first round, one in the second and two in the third. “Each game I played better and better, and even today, during these few games, I was quite confident,” she said.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, world number 2, having qualified for the quarter-finals, Swiatek must imperatively climb at least in the last four to have a chance of remaining on the throne of world number 1 at the end of Roland-Garros . A year ago, Swiatek, winner of the Porte d’Auteuil for the first time in 2020, dominated Gauff 6-1, 6-3, for the first time in the Grand Slam final, at 18. This is the third year in a row that the 19-year-old American has reached the quarter-finals on Parisian clay.