Teenager Swiatek bundles top seed Halep out of French Open

Simona Halep

PARIS (Reuters): Polish teenager Iga Swiatek dumped top seed Simona Halep out of the French Open yesterday with a crushing 6-1 6-2 victory to make her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.

Halep came into the fourth round clash on a 17-match unbeaten streak having defeated the 19-year-old Swiatek, ranked 54th in the world, 6-1 6-0 in 45 minutes at the same stage last year in the claycourt Grand Slam at Roland Garros.

“I wasn’t experienced at all then. That was my first match in a big stadium,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview, after wiping away tears. “I was pretty stressed.

“Since then I have made huge progress and I have played few big matches... it helped me a lot. And right now I think I can handle the pressure.”

Swiatek avenged that morale-sapping defeat and her victory under the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier in 68 minutes was no less impressive against the 2018 French Open champion, ranked number two in the world.

The former Wimbledon junior champion will next meet Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan, who also scripted an upset by defeating fifth-seeded Dutch Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4.

It will be the first career quarter-final at a Grand Slam for Swiatek, but she was keeping her emotions in check.