Top-ranked Iga Swiatek has won her 31st consecutive match and is into the fourth round at Roland Garros for the fourth time in four appearances with a sometimes-shaky 6-3, 7-5 victory over Danka Kovinic.
Swiatek improved her career record at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament to 17-2, a winning percentage of .895.
“Thinking about all these stats, it’s not really helpful. So basically I try to be really strict in terms of my thoughts and try to really focus on … finding solutions,” said Swiatek.
This one was not entirely smooth sailing for Swiatek against the 95th-ranked Kovinic, however.
Swiatek’s forehand was a particular trouble spot: That stroke was responsible for 17 of her 23 unforced errors.
Kovinic was playing in the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time. The other was at the Australian Open in January, when she lost to eventual champion Ash Barty.
Barty retired in March and was replaced at No. 1 in the WTA rankings by Swiatek.
On the men’s side, the first four times Daniil Medvedev played at the French Open, he left without winning a match.
The reigning U.S. Open champion, who is seeded second in Paris, advanced Saturday with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 28 Miomir Kecmanovic.
The 26-year-old Russian has not dropped a set through three matches this week. He faces 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic or 37-year-old French wild-card entry Gilles Simon next.
No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, of Greece, needed just 92 minutes before seizing a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mikael Ymer of Sweden.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her doubles partner Giuliana Olmos of Mexico won their second-round match against Great Britain’s Tara Moore and American Emina Bektas by walkover.
Sinner saves 11 set points en route to victory
Jannik Sinner saved 11 — yes, 11! — set points in the second set on the way to beating Mackie McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the third round at Roland Garros.
Sinner is a 20-year-old from Italy who has made it to Week 2 in all three of his trips to the French Open. He wound up losing to Rafael Nadal in both 2020 and 2021.
McDonald is a Californian who is No. 60 in the ATP rankings and was playing in the third round in Paris for the first time. He fell to 1-16 against opponents ranked in the top 15.
Sinner’s next opponent is No. 7 Andrey Rublev, who needed four match points to get past Cristian Garin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (11).
Begu reaches 4th round after fine for racket toss
Irina-Camelia Begu has reached the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in six years, getting there at Roland Garros one match after being fined $10,000 for tossing her racket and having it brush a child in the stands.
The 63rd-ranked Romanian advanced by beating 227th-ranked French wild-card entry Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday.
Begu is 31 and participating in her 41st major tournament. Her best showings previously were fourth-round runs at the 2015 Australian Open and the 2016 French Open.
Jeanjean was appearing in her first tour-level event and beat two-time major finalist and former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the second round.
In other matches:
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Madison Keys became the fifth American woman to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros this year by coming back to beat Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3). This is the first year that the French Open is using third-set tiebreakers in women’s matches and fifth-set tiebreakers for men. The four Grand Slam tournaments all agreed this season to adopt a uniform system of first-to-10-points, win-by-two tiebreakers in deciding sets.
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Jessica Pegula needed just one match point to secure this victory at Roland Garros. The 11th-seeded American will make her debut in the French Open’s fourth round after eliminating 2021 semifinalist Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-1, 7-6 (2) on Saturday.
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Two high-seeded women departed Saturday: No. 3 Paula Badosa and No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka. Badosa stopped playing because of a health issue while trailing No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 2-1, and Sabalenka lost to Camila Giorgi 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
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Zheng Qinwen has become the fourth Chinese woman to reach the fourth round at the French Open, doing so in her tournament debut. The 74th-ranked Zheng was leading 6-0, 3-0 on Saturday at Court Philippe Chatrier when her opponent, France’s Alize Cornet, stopped playing because of what she said was a torn muscle in her upper left leg.
