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Swiatek invites Graf comparsion with French Open rout / Photo: © AFP
Swiatek invites Graf comparsion with French Open rout
Iga Swiatek said she was honoured to be compared to 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf as the Polish world number one extended her winning run at the French Open to 19 matches on Tuesday.
Swiatek blew past Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals and move within two victories of a third consecutive Roland Garros title.
Her record in six visits to Paris now stands at 33-2 and she will be heavily favoured to reach another final, having beaten upcoming opponent Coco Gauff in straight sets in 10 of 11 meetings.
Swiatek is undoubtedly the player to beat as the Pole aims to become only the fourth woman to win four Roland Garros singles titles in the Open era.
One of those to accomplish the feat alongside Chris Evert and Justine Henin was Graf, a six-time champion in Paris who reigned supreme in the women's game in the late 1980s and for much of the 1990s.
The German, now 54, was the last player to achieve a calendar Grand Slam, sweeping all four major titles as well as capturing Olympic singles gold in 1988.
Swiatek has inflicted crushing defeats on her past two opponents, hammering Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0 in a performance reminiscent of Graf's 32-minute walloping of Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 Roland Garros final.
"She's a great champion, and, well, it's just nice that anybody would compare me to her," said Swiatek, who at one point won 20 consecutive games stretching across her last-16 and quarter-final ties.
"I don't know her, but I feel like maybe she was kind of a similar person to me because she also likes to keep her privacy," added Swiatek.
"I also heard from some people on tour that she was also kind of like an introvert, really in the zone and just focusing on tennis and what she wants to do."
Ominously for her rivals, Swiatek said her game was "getting better and better" after Vondrousova fell victim to another of her clay-court masterclasses.
Swiatek reeled off the first seven games against the Czech fifth seed and 2019 French Open runner-up, who conceded she simply had no answers.
"She's I feel like way better than anyone else on clay, and especially here," said Vondrousova.
"I feel like on the court you have nothing to, I don't know, maybe offer or she's just, you know, she's just too strong here.
"I feel like you just go crazy every point."
M.Joo--SG
