Tennis player preparing to serve. | © Twitter (@PentecostJesse)
Iga Swiatek began her quest for a third straight Roland Garros title in style on Monday, blasting past Léolia Jeanjean, 6-1, 6-2 to win a 15th consecutive match in Paris.
The ever-streaking world No. 1 had won her last 12 matches before arriving on the terre battue, having captured back-to-back titles at the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, and made relatively quick work of the French qualifier to advance under the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof in 61 minutes and book an intriguing second-round match with former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka.
Swiatek has already won the French Open three times in the last four years, first triumphing as an unseeded teenager in 2020. She has only lost once in Paris since then, bouncing back from a quarterfinal loss in 2021 to drop just two sets in her last two appearances, beating Coco Gauff in the 2022 final and Karolina Muchova in the 2023 final.
Her 2024 clay-court season started with a surprising semifinal loss at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, a tournament where she had never been defeated before. However, she quickly recovered by becoming only the third woman to win both the Madrid and Rome titles in the same season, following in the footsteps of Dinara Safina and Serena Williams.
As the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth French Open title, Swiatek faced a qualifier who has also had her best results in Paris, though on a smaller scale. The 28-year-old Jeanjean, who played college tennis at Lynn University, revived her professional career in 2022. As a wild card, she surprised many by defeating former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova and reaching the third round.
However, Swiatek was a much tougher opponent. The Polish player converted all three break points to win the first set in just 30 minutes.
Jeanjean gave the Chatrier crowd something to cheer for at the start of the second set when she opened with a break of her own, but Swiatek swiftly regained the initiative, reversing a 30-0 deficit in the following game to break back. She won 10 straight points to put herself a game from the finish line, striking a powerful forehand to set up three match points and converted with a backhand into the open court.
In the second round, Swiatek will face Naomi Osaka, who has won as many major titles as Swiatek but has traditionally struggled on clay. Osaka had a challenging match on Sunday, battling through three tough sets to defeat Italian player Lucia Bronzetti.
