Iga Swiatek will seek to continue her French Open winning streak on Sunday morning, where a win over Anastasia Potapova would make it eighteen straight in the French capital. The top seed remains the heavy favourite for the event but will be wary of her main rivals with the rest of the top 4 still left in the draw.
After the drama of her Osaka win, things went back to normal for Swiatek in her third round clash with Marie Bouzkova. She was rarely troubled by the Czech in the 6-4 6-2 win, allowing her to have a stress-free 23rd birthday. “I feel good physically, I had a day off yesterday,” said Swiatek. “I don’t feel like the match [against Osaka] stayed with me but we’ll see at the end of the tournament.”
Potapova is in the fourth round in Paris for the first time, taking advantage of what was a fairly weak route to get there. She did have to come back against Xinyu Wang in the previous round though, recovering from a break down to eventually come through 7-5 6-7 6-4. She will be happy to have got into some form after struggling in the clay swing prior, going just 3-4 overall.
While Potapova has a powerful game that could give Swiatek trouble at times, it’s hard to see her remaining consistent enough in the way Naomi Osaka was for large parts. Dealing with the Pole’s consistent pressure will eventually tell, especially with the Russian not having a good enough serve to relieve pressure in key moments.
Prediction – Iga Swiatek in straight sets
