Four-time champ Swiatek crushes Raducanu at French Open

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek made light work of Britain's Emma Raducanu in their French Open second round on Wednesday, notching up a 6-1 6-2 victory and stretching her winning run in Paris to 23 consecutive matches.

The world number five, looking to become the first woman in the professional era since 1968 to win four consecutive titles at the French Open, has now beaten Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, in all five of their meetings, with all the wins coming in straight sets.

She will next meet either Czech Sara Bejlek or Jaqueline Cristian of Romania.

"I just wanted to play my game," Swiatek said. "I felt good on court. I thought I can do what I had planned to, adjust to the conditions because it was windy. I am happy that I did that well and I am through.

"Probably the top spin that I play," she said, when asked about the reason for her success on the Parisian clay.

"I love playing here. This place inspires me and makes me work harder. I am just ready to fight for it and compete."

The 22-year-old Raducanu, whose best result this season has been a quarter-final spot in Miami, briefly kept up with Swiatek at the start, with the Pole making eight unforced errors in the first three games.

Swiatek, however, pulled herself together, breaking the Briton twice to quickly gobble up the first set.

Swiatek, who has unusually not won a title so far this season, broke her opponent again early in the second set. Raducanu, ranked 41st, did carve out three break opportunities of her own, when she was trailing 2-1, but could not convert any of them.

With her opponent keeping up the pressure, Raducanu, who was sick prior to her first-round game earlier in the week, was easy prey and lost the last three games on the trot as Swiatek wrapped up the win with a stunning backhand down the line on her second match point.

Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini, a surprise runner-up last year, barely put a foot wrong on Court Philippe Chatrier as she brushed aside Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-3 after paying homage to the venue's greatest champion Rafa Nadal.

The diminutive Italian, who trains with Nadal's former mentor Marc Lopez, touched the newly installed footprint of the Spanish great on centre court before delivering a polished display in front of a sparse crowd.

"It was great to play again there," said Paolini. "It's an amazing court and I'm happy how I played, because I played better than the first round which is good. I'm just happy about the performance."

China's Zheng Qinwen, the Paris 2024 Olympics champion on these courts, powered past Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-2 6-3 as the eighth seed's big-hitting game proved too much for the world number 85.

She now faces Canadian 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko, who extended her fairytale run with a 6-4 6-4 win over Germany's Eva Lys in her Grand Slam debut.

Former French Open semi-finalist and 16th seed Amanda Anisimova brushed aside Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic 6-0 6-2 in 55 minutes to reach the third round while 13th seed Elina Svitolina beat Anna Bondar 7-6(4) 7-5.

Ons Jabeur has reached three Grand Slam finals to date, including twice at Wimbledon

Earlier, Ons Jabeur criticised Roland Garros chiefs for snubbing women's tennis, saying: "I don't think they have daughters."

The French Open introduced night-session matches in 2021 but they have almost exclusively featured a men's singles match.

Last year all 11 prime-time TV slot matches featured men and the three so far this year have followed suit, while Wednesday night's is Danish 12th seed Holger Rune against American world number 137 Emilio Nava.

Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, caused controversy this week when he said the schedule is dictated by what will be "better for spectators".

Former Wimbledon runner-up Jabeur said: "It's still sad that we are still seeing this.

"In Europe it's unfortunate for women's sports in general. Whoever is making the decision, I don't think they have daughters, because I don't think they want to treat their daughters like this.

"It's a bit ironic. They don't show women's sport, they don't show women's tennis, and then they ask the question, 'yeah, but mostly they watch men'. Of course they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together.

"It's a shame from the Federation, a shame from (Amazon) Prime, that they made such a contract like this. A lot of great players, they deserve to be there.

"One of the matches was Naomi (Osaka) and Paula (Badosa). Such an unbelievable match. They were supposed to be there. Like last year, Iga (Swiatek) and Naomi was supposed to be there. A lot of great matches, they should have been there.

"I'm not sure what kind of fans he's talking about. I know I'm a fan. I will watch that match."

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