By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, May 31, 2021
Iga Swiatek celebrated her 20th birthday with a 6-0, 7-5 win over buddy Kaja Juvan for her eighth straight Roland Garros win.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Celebrating her 20th birthday today, Iga Swiatek was gifted enough cake to stock a Parisian patisserie.
Neither confectioners’ sugar, an opening bagel nor fierce friendly fire diminishes Swiatek's deep hunger for success.
More: Osaka Fined, Could Be Defaulted
The reigning Roland Garros champion picked up in Paris where she she left off in Rome winning seven straight games to beat back buddy Kaja Juvan 6-0, 7-5 for her eighth straight French Open victory.
It was Swiatek's seventh straight win following her run to the Rome title earlier this month and came with a degree of difficulty. Swiatek and Juvan are good friends—the pair partnered to win the 2018 Youth Olympics doubles title—and shared heart-felt hugs both before and after this match.
Things got even tighter when Juvan had a break point—and a clear shot at a forehand pass that would have given her a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve out the second set. Swiatek withstood that stress and the friendly fire winning the final two games.
"You never know what's going to happen when you're coming out on a court as a defending champion. I've never been in a situation like that," Swiatek said. "I'm really glad I could handle that pretty well and just play tennis, play a normal match without having in the back of my mind that I'm defending the title.
"First set was really, really good for me. I was really offensive. I didn't let Kaja find her rhythm. In the second, I feel like I backed out a little bit. I gave her some chances, and she used them pretty well. I kind of lost a little bit my confidence.
"But I knew as soon as she's not breaking me, everything is under control."
Afterward, Swiatek and Juvan shared a friendly chat, another embrace and the Slovenian showed her class sticking around as Roland Garros presenter Marion Bartoli serenaded Swiatek with "Happy Birthday."
It all added up to a celebration day that began with a core question: How would Swiatek shoulder the burden of her maiden major title defense in her Roland Garros return?
Swiatek answered with first-set conviction and second-set composure improving her 2021 record to 20-5 with her ninth win in her last 10 matches. The lone loss in that span came to world No. 1 Ash Barty in Madrid. Swiatek says she's prepared for her title defense cleaning the mental slate and focusing on now.
"I tried to put it behind me and kind of use it in a positive way because I just know that I'm feeling good here. I love playing in Paris," Swiatek said. "My game was here for last couple of tournaments, not only last year. Yeah, I mean, obviously it's different. It's more stressful a little bit.
"But still first rounds are always tricky, so I wouldn't say that the stress level was much, much higher. I had to basically just do little bit of more work mentally to stay focused just on tennis and on tactics and on the things that we are doing on practice. Yeah, it was good. Hopefully next matches are going to be easier from that mental side."
The ninth seed moved fluidly both laterally and forward, unleashed her heavy topspin forehand into the corners with command, played some timely drop shots and hammered her overhead winning 11 of 18 trips to net. Swiatek's athleticism and agility around the court were on display in the opening set, while her concentration and problem-solving skills were tested in the second set.
Today's second meeting between sometime doubles partners was a tale of two completely different sets. Swiatek stormed through the opening set permitting just five points on serve and hitting 10 winners to none for Juvan.
It was Swiatek's third straight bagel. Playing with force of nature conviction, Swiatek geared up for Paris demolishing Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 dishing out the first double bagel final in Internazionali BNL d'Italia championship history earlier this month.
Watching Swiatek glide across the clay, you can understand why she's got so many baked goods in her bag. Swiatek is quick around the court, tireless and has an answer from anywhere.
Embed from Getty Images
Credit the 101st-ranked Juvan for turning the page and showing the variety that helped her topple Johanna Konta en route to the Australian Open third round in February. Juvan can crack the ball, particularly off her two-handed backhand, and mixed some fine drop shots as well. Juvan broke back in the fifth game then battled through a tight sixth game to level 3-3.
Deadlocked at 5-all, Swiatek saved a beak point pasting a forehand off the baseline. Juvan came right back sweeping her two-hander down the line for a second break point. Drawing Swiatek forward, Juvan had a good look at a forehand pass down the line. Had she made the strike, Juvan would have sealed the break and served for the second set, but steered it inches wide of the sideline.
Dodging that dilemma, Swiatek held for 6-5. Juvan went up 40-love in the ensuing game, but couldn't close it. Though Juvan saved two match points, including lacing her first ace to deny one of them, Swiatek put a bow on her birthday celebration closing in one hour, 27 minutes.
Last fall, Swiatek did not surrender a set in her inspired run to the Roland Garros crown becoming Poland's first Grand Slam singles champion—man or woman—and the youngest woman to rule Paris since an 18-year-old Monica Seles raised the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 1992.
Swiatek will ride a streak of 16 straight sets in Paris when she faces Sweden's Rebecca Peterson in round two. Peterson fought off former French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers 6-7(3), 7-6(8), 6-2 in a three-hour marathon.