Key events
Next on Chatrier: Coco Gauff (3) v Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Swiatek says she was really focused and in the zone, not looking at the score and working on the things she wanted to. The balls are bouncing higher today, which is what she wants, but it’s still not warm and doesn’t feel like summer in Europe, but they’ll see how it goes today – even if the forecasts are imprecise. She then goes on to say that in her team is an ex-sailor, who helps her navigate Chatrier’s idiosyncratic winds, but she’s also got good at doing it herself.
Talking of whom, Vondrousova is now in full control of their match, serving out for a come-from-behind 6-4 set.
Iga Swiatek (1) beats Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0
Ruthless from the champion and favourite, painful for the Russian and Swiatek, fearsome from the back, moves on to meet Danilovic or Vondrousova. Forty minutes, that took.
I said Danilovic was serious but because of that she’s losing her temper with herself … though as I type, she clobbers a redemptive overhead for 4-4 40-30, baying at her box in celebration. She can’t close out though, and at deuce offers Vondrousova a wrong-footing pass down the line that she gleefully seizes upon. And though a decent volley, saves break point, a return towards the ankles converts another, and after a little sit-down, the Czech will serve for the set. And as for Swiatek, she now leads Potapova 6-0 5-0, which is to say Sunday morning bagels are on the agenda.
Here it comes! Down 0-6 0-1 0-40, Potapova blazes a forehand at Swiatek, then an inside-out winner followed by another down the line. Er yeah. She loses the next point in short order to trail by a set and a break; Vondrousova is now in charge on Lenglen, levelling at 4-4.
On Court 5, Hari Heliovaara and Henry Patten have beaten Luke Johnson and Skander Mansouri in the men’s doubles; watch out for those two.
Oh yes! A gorgeous lob from deep in the backhand corner raises break-back point, and a glorious, oblique stop-volley at the net cements in. We’re back on serve on Lenglen, Danilivoc leading Vondrousova 4-3.
Gosh, Potapova ends the set in the only way she can, a double to see herself broken to love and bagelled – in 19 minutes. Swiatek is hitting so cleanly off the ground, and Potapova just can’t get it going. Vondrousdova, though, is starting to settle – she’ll not get away with taking this long should she continue progressing – down 2-4 but up 0-30.
This is ruthless from Swiatek, who consolidates her double break, and that classic which I semi-predicted looks on schedule: Potapova, now trailing 0-5, is already plotting her miraculous comeback.
Danilovic is a serious competitor and having spent time injured, at 23 is absolutely ravenous. Vondrousova is on the board now at 1-3 and started slowly in her last match too – she was bagelled in set one by Volynets – but the Serb won’t let her off the hook as easily. Swiatek, meantime, has broken Potapova again for 4-0, taking full advantage of the extra life granted her by Naomi Osaka.
So we’ve had immediate breaks in both matches, Danilovic leading Vondrousova 3-0 and Swiatek up 2-0 in Potapova; the winners meet in the last eight.
Apologies, by the way: my mouse decided to cease operating hence my apparent disappearance, but I’ve remonstrated and it’s now back with us.
Our resident coach, Calv Betton – whose charges, Luke Johnson and Henry Patten, are playing each other in the men’s doubles as we speak – messages to say he was at the junior Davis Cup in 2016, and saw Swiatek play Potapova. At the time, it was the Russian seen as the next big thing with the Pole considered a good but not special player. A lot’s changed since then, of course, Coach Calv noting that Potapova has periods of being good and others of just whacking everything.
And off we go!
Out come our players…
Preamble
Salut tout le monde et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2-24 – jour huit!
And what a jour it should be! We begin on Lenglen with Olga Danilovic – a qualifier in terrific form, having seen away Marta Trevisan, Danielle Collins and Donna Vekic – against Marketa Vondrousova, the 21 runner-up and reigning Wimbledon champion. Not bad.
Elsewhere, defending two-time champ Iga Swiatek meets Anastasia Potapova – who might just be finding her best self – before Coco Gauff faces the surging Elisabetta Cocciaretto, conqueror of Beatriz Haddad Maia and Liudmila Samsonova. Either of both could be classics.
Meantime, in the men’s competition we’ve an afternoon, Matteo Arnaldi – ejector of Andrey Rublev – taking on Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Felix Auger-Aliassime rucking Carlos Alcaraz. Toss in a bit of Hubie Hurkacz v Griggzy Dimitrov and Clara Tauson v Ons Jabeur, and we’ve got the day of the championships so far – by far. On y va!
Play: 11am local, 10am BST
