Iga Swiatek resumes her French Open title defence against world number 102 Claire Liu in the second round on Thursday….
Iga Swiatek resumes her French Open title defence against world number 102 Claire Liu in the second round on Thursday.
The reigning champion, who also triumphed at Roland Garros in 2020, has now won 19 of her last 20 matches at the clay-court major, and 41 of her last 45 on surface.
Swiatek maintained the impressive streak against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa, coming through a close opening set before eventually running away a commanding 6-4, 6-0 winner.
The Pole, who turned 22 on Wednesday, is now six victories away from becoming only the sixth woman in the Open Era to successfully defend the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, along with the likes of Steffi Graf, Chris Evert and Monica Seles.
And she will be confident of edging closer to achieving that against Liu – a player she thrashed 6-0, 6-1 at this stage of the Indian Wells Masters earlier this season.
The American is aiming to reach round three in a major for the first time at Roland Garros, where she has fond memories from her junior career.
Indeed, she was the girls’ runner-up to Whitney Osuigwe in 2017 – a year that also saw Swiatek compete in the event, along with future grand slam winners Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina.
Beaten by 2021 semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek on debut 12 months ago, the 23-year-old recorded her first main-draw win after seeing off Ylena In-Albon in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, despite arriving in Paris having suffered first-round defeats in four of her previous five events.
The winner of this match will face either Rebecca Peterson or Wang Xinyu in the third round at the 2023 French Open.
Play gets underway at around 1.30pm BST on Thursday and will be contested over the best of three sets on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros.
How to watch Swiatek v Liu live stream with Bet365
18+ | Funded account required | Geo restrictions may apply | Please Gamble Responsibly | #Ad
1) Go to Bet365 via this special link
2) Register an account, place a £10 first bet and get £30 in Free Bets* (18+ only, T&Cs apply)
3) Once registered, go to the sports homepage and select ‘Tennis’ from the left-hand menu
4) Select the play icon next to the match in progress and the stream window will appear
*18+ only. New Customers only. Bet £10* & Get £30* in Free Bets. Sign up, deposit between £5* and £10* to your account and bet365 will give you three times that value in Free Bets when you place qualifying bets to the same value and they are settled. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits. Min odds/bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. T&Cs, time limits & exclusions apply. Registration required. BeGambleAware.org. *or currency equivalent