The world No. 1 won a third straight 6-0 set and 25 of her last 27 games to put herself two wins away from a fourth victory in Paris, defeating Marketa Vondrousova on Tuesday.
Vondrousova had never won a set against the world No. 1 in three previous meetings, their first encounter coming in the first round of 2020 Roland Garros, which a then-teenaged Swiatek went on to win for her first of four (and counting) major victories. Their most recent clash came last fall at the WTA Finals, where Swiatek won a 6-0 second set to secure the contest on the way to winning the year-end championships for the first time.
“I feel like way better than anyone else on clay, and especially here,” Vondrousova said of Swiatek after the match. “Yeah, it’s very tough. You know, 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.
“Yeah, I didn’t, you know, feel bad, but overall, like, in the rallies, I felt like, you know, she’s just better. So I think, you know, she was the better one today.”