Iga bakery special at French Open: Swiatek dishes out her first Grand Slam double bagel

French Open 2023: Defending champion Swiatek defeated World No. 80 Wang 6-0, 6-0 in just 51 minutes to record her first-ever double bagel in a Grand Slam match.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates after beating China’s Xinyu Wang in third round of French Open at Roland-Garros, Paris on Saturday. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek unlocked a new achievement in her French Open third-round win over China’s Xinyu Wang at Roland-Garros on Saturday.

Swiatek, who has won two of her three Majors in Paris and is the defending champion this year, defeated World No. 80 Wang 6-0, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. It is the first time the 22-year-old Pole has dished out a ‘double bagel’ in a Grand Slam match.

“It was a really solid performance from me. It’s not easy to stay disciplined and keep your focus,” said Swiatek.

“I took care of everything and I’m pretty happy with my performance.”

A 6-0 set is referred to as a ‘bagel’ while a 6-1 set is called a ‘baguette’ in tennis.

According to OptaAce, Swiatek is the fourth woman in the past decade to record a ‘double bagel’ at Roland-Garros. Before her, Caroline Wozniacki (second round against Françoise Abanda, 2017), Qiang Wang (first round against Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, 2016) and Maria Sharapova (third round against Paula Ormaechea, 2014) had won with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline.

Six-time French Open champion Steffi Graf famously beat Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 in the 1988 final, the only instance of a double bagel in a women’s singles Grand Slam summit clash in the Open Era.

Swiatek’s overall bagel tally at the ongoing edition is four. She had beaten Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and USA’s Claire Liu both with the same scoreline of 6-4, 6-0 in the first two rounds.

When asked about her habit of posting 6-0 or 6-1 sets, Swiatek said, “I always try to kind of be careful, because you don’t want to get lazy after winning these matches. It’s never easy to win these matches. But on the other hand, sometimes all your head can remember is the score, and I always want to kind of be ready for every situation.

“I don’t feel like it’s a problem for me, because I had many matches like that. But kind of also reset from all the other stuff and the expectations and just go to another match like it’s a new one.”

Swiatek will next face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who beat Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, for a place in the quarterfinals.