French Open 2022, quarter-finals, Wednesday, 01.06.2022
From the start there was really only one favourite at the French Open 2022: Iga Swiatek! The Pole is racing through this year, taking everything she can get. Now she is not far away from her second Grand Slam triumph.
In the round of 16 she wobbled once for a short while, but then hit back all the stronger. Now she goes into the round of the last eight with a very clear lead. Read my Swiatek Pegula tip to find out what chances I see for the underdog!
Iga Swiatek might have a hard time to improve her performance after this year 2022. The Pole will turn 21 on 31 May and still has almost her entire career ahead of her.
In the meantime, she is no longer the new number 1 only because Ashleigh Barty surprisingly retired. For more than three months, she has won every tournament in which she participates, most of them without losing a set.
There is no question that Swiatek is far superior to the competition at the moment. A real novelty therefore occurred in the round of 16 at the French Open. At first, it seemed as if the top favourite was going through Roland Garros on the fast track.
After beating Lessja Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0, she also won smoothly against Alison Riske, getting the same result. Danka Kovinic was defeated in the 3rd round 6-3, 7-5, here Swiatek already surrendered an unusual number of games.
In the round of 16, she really gave China’s Zheng Qinwen a hard time, taking the first set from her in a tiebreak. Swiatek shook it off briefly, won two quick sets 6-0, 6-2 and ended up confidently through to the next round again.
The US player has nothing to lose in her quarter-final. She has only reached the round of the best eight in Australia, but in Paris she will be celebrating a premiere this far up the field.
Her results don’t read quite as clearly as Swiatek’s. She got off to a flying start with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Wang Qiang, then beat Anhelina Kalinina 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. She managed to take less than half of the break chances in those two matches.
In the 3rd round, Pegula prevailed 6-1, 7-6. Once again she had to go into “overtime” against Irina-Camelia Begu, whom she beat 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Before the French Open began, Pegula had attracted attention with the final in Madrid.
A few days earlier, she had been eliminated in the Miami semi-finals, losing in two sets to Iga Swiatek. After all, the American won the first duel three years ago in Washington, but Swiatek was not yet a world-class player here.
My Swiatek Pegula Tip
Iga Swiatek is the clear favourite in each of her matches, including the quarter-final against Jessica Pegula. So in the end, the only question is probably how quickly or how clearly she wins.
I can only take my hat off to her in 2022. I trust Jessica Pegula to upset her, but I don’t expect a real marathon match. Therefore, my guess is:
We’ll see more than 17.5 Games!
