French Open 2022 - Iga Swiatek dominates Lesia Tsurenko to win in straight sets in first round

World No.1 Iga Swiatek made light work of her first round clash with Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko to progress in straight sets at the French Open and extend her phenomenal winning run.

It took the Polish player less than an hour to book her place in the second round, and was delighted with her performance at Roland-Garros.

"I love playing here, even though the last couple of days have been rainy. Paris has this vibe. I really love playing here. I am really glad I found my rhythm and it was a pretty good match for me”, she said.

Rain has caused delays to some games, but Swiatek’s dominance was uninterrupted as they played under the roof.

Speaking about the conditions, she said, "It is more humid. But honestly I don't mind. When I played two years ago we basically played indoors so I'm pretty used to it. I'm glad I got a chance to practice here on the indoor court."

Swiatek has now won 29 matches in a row, but she is staying grounded, saying, "I'm pretty sure that I can (still lose a game) but I just want to keep going. I know my streak may stop one day so every day I want to be focused on my tennis and not on stats or numbers. Focus on my game and be in a bubble that will help me be consistent. I have done that in the past few weeks and I will continue doing that here."

After an early break in the first set, Swiatek raced into a 3-0 lead in her French opener, and when Tsurenko dared to win a game back, the No.1 responded by winning eight success points to move to within a game of the first set.

Showing she is human after all, a double fault from Swiatek gave Tsurenko the chance to pull a break back, which she duly took, but a break back to love made sure the first set was wrapped up in under half an hour.

Then, in a bruising, punishing second set, Swiatek swept toward the finish line in just 25 minutes.

Although she missed her first two match points, it was third time lucky as the 20-year-old got the job done and turned her thoughts to what she will do with the rest of her afternoon.

"I have some media, exciting stuff, then maybe we go to Paris and see some things. You can see on my Instagram!”

Eurosport tennis expert Alex Corretja was blown away by Swiatek’s performance, saying Tsurenko "couldn’t really do anything”.

The dominance of Swiatek was clear to see, but Corretja said, "The match was better than the score shows, but (Swiatek) is playing too well right now and she oozes confidence off the court as well, especially when she’s talking - about her good practice before - and it was very important to step into the first match and win it so easily, because there (was) so much pressure.”

Watching the match with fellow former player Mats Wilander, Corretja admits the pair were intrigued by Swiatek’s movement, saying, "we were impressed to see the way she was hitting and the way she moved around the court from side to side, and the ball was very fast out of her racquet, even with slower conditions and humidity, but she still seems calm. Like she said, she was playing indoors two years ago most of the time, so she is used to it. She spoke about her Instagram story, but if you want to know the tennis story, it went quite quickly!”

With 29 wins in a row under her belt, Swiatek will be feeling confident going into round two, and Corretja thinks she will take some stopping.

"She’s said she’s found balance. You know, when you are in a period where you’re struggling a bit and you need to let your emotions out, but it seems at the moment she’s believing in herself a lot, which is what she needs to do, and when she’s on the court, the tactics are great. Okay, Tsurenko came from quallies - always dangerous - but it wasn’t dangerous for Iga today”, he said.

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