Swiatek wins shortest match of career, whitewashes Potapova in Paris

PARIS -- Before Sunday, Anastasia Potapova and Iga Swiatek had never met in a WTA Tour-level match, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a history.

They’ve been going at it for more than a decade, all the way back to U12s. At the Nations Challenge in Ajaccio, France, Potapova was a winner in straight sets. A year later at the Junior Orange Bowl International, they played a two-and-one-half-hour U14 semifinal people still talk about.

Potapova was down a match point, but Swiatek made three consecutive errors -- the last a forehand just long -- and the Polish girl collapsed on the court, sobbing, while Potapova stood at the net waiting to shake hands. The final in Miami was 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(6).

According to Colette Lewis, a leading authority on junior tennis, Potapova was the “it girl” of that age group, the more celebrated and accomplished player. Her leading rival at the time was Olga Danilovic. Potapova was 55-5 in 2014 and the European Junior 14s champion. Swiatek was 41-9, but clearly a step below.

Their only junior match came here at Roland Garros in the 2016 quarterfinals. Potapova, two months older, was again a winner, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. A few weeks later, she achieved the No.1 junior ranking.

Fast forward to the present, where Potapova is, by any measure, a successful professional. She’s won two tournaments, in Istanbul and Linz, and is ranked No.41 among Hologic WTA Tour players.

Swiatek, of course, is now the No.1-ranked player and seemingly poised to win her third consecutive French Open title and fourth in five years. That tantalizing possibility exists because Swiatek was a remarkable 6-0, 6-0 winner on Court Philippe Chatrier.

On a cool, blustery day, Swiatek played with a clinical fury that suggested she might have remembered those defeats from the past. It was over in 40 minutes, the shortest tour-level match of Swiatek's career, and Swiatek won 48 of 58 points. She was not taken to deuce once.

In her post-match press conference, Swiatek was asked if those losses to Potapova were in the back of her mind. Her first response was no, but then she elaborated.

“Obviously, I had just a thought that times change a little bit because I remember she was always the player to beat me. I don’t think I won against her, and I lost some heartbreaking matches for me.

“Honestly, there’s no point to think about that, but I had just a thought like that. It lasted two seconds, and then I was focusing on my work because that’s the best thing I can do.”

The first set was astonishing, really. Only 19 minutes had passed when a downcast-looking Potapova committed a double fault. The respectable crowd on hand issued a collective sigh. Swiatek won 24 of 30 points, hit seven winners and was credited with only one unforced error. 

The second set was about the same. Swiatek won 24 of 28 points.

Potapova won exactly three return points in the entire match. Toward the end, she was rolling her eyes and the support team in her box were shaking their heads.

What’s changed the most in the decade since Potapova held the upper hand?

“When I think about myself, I just know that my progress was kind of like that,” Swiatek said, tracing a steady, 45-degree trajectory with her hand. “It’s never kind of stopped, so I’m just proud of myself and the work that I’ve put to be in this place.

“Everything changed because I'm just older, and I play better.”

That 6-0, 6-0 scoreline sent the statisticians scurrying to the history books. Swiatek is now only the third player in the Open era to claim 6-0, 6-0 victories at Roland Garros in consecutive years, after Gabriela Sabatini (1992-93) and Mary Pierce (1993-94); last year, she inflicted the whitewash on Wang Xinyu in the third round. This was also her 26th 6-0 set on clay at tour level. In completed matches, only Serena Williams (35) has more.

The gaudy numbers don't stop there. Swiatek is the first woman to win 18 straight matches at a Grand Slam since Serena Williams won the 2014 US Open. Swiatek is now 32-2 in Paris, which works out to 94 percent. Only Margaret Court (95 percent) was better on these red-clay courts.

After taking the titles in Madrid and Rome, she’s won 16 straight matches. With three more, she’ll become the first since Serena Williams (2013) to sweep Madrid, Rome and Paris.

Swiatek will play No.5 seed Marketa Vondrousova in a Tuesday quarterfinal match after the Wimbledon champion came from 4-1 down in the first set to end the run of qualifier Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2.