Iga Swiatek needed just 40 minutes to record a crushing 6-0 6-0 victory over Anastasia Potapova and reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The two-time defending champion showed why she is the overwhelming favorite for the title with a brutally dominant performance.
Top seed Swiatek won 48 points – against 10 won by world number 41 Potapova – and did not concede a single break point.
It was the fastest victory of Swiatek’s career – and the second-shortest completed match at Roland Garros after Steffi Graf’s 32-minute victory over Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 final.
“It happened pretty quickly,” Swiatek said.
“I was very focused and in the zone. I wasn’t looking at the score, so I kept working on my game.”
She will next face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova after the Czech ended the run of Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic in a 6-4 6-2.
US Open winner Coco Gauff made easy work of Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winning 6-1 6-2 to set up a meeting with Ons Jabeur or Clara Tauson.
The stats tell most of the story: Swiatek made just two unforced errors, won 94% of points behind her first serve and held at love five times.
She took the first set in 19 minutes, showing only frustration when she missed two break points on Potapova’s serve in the second set before taking the third.
It was a far cry from her second-round match against four-time Major winner Naomi Osaka, where she had to save a match point before advancing in three tough sets.
Should she retain her title, Swiatek will become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to win the French Open singles three times in a row.
Swiatek is on an 18-match win streak at Roland Garros and has not lost since the 2021 quarter-finals.
She is also on a 16-match winning streak on clay courts this season, having won major titles in Madrid and Rome before arriving in Paris.
Slam champions Gauff & Vondrousova are making progress
Fifth seed Vondrousova, who stunned Jabeur to win Wimbledon last year, is in form at Roland Garros after losing to Ashleigh Barty in the 2019 final.
She had a mixed start to the year, but reached the semi-finals on the asphalt of Stuttgart in the run-up to Roland Garros.
She recovered from an early break against Danilovic and saved four of the five break points she faced on her way to victory.
Gauff is also a former finalist at Roland Garros, finishing second behind the ever-dominant Swiatek in 2021.
Unlike many American players, Gauff has extensive experience on clay, having won the Roland Garros girls title as a junior in 2018.
She brought all her experience to bear against Cocciaretto, who had heavy ligaments in her leg and seemed to be feeling the effects of reaching the second week of a major for the first time.
Third seed Gauff moved well and played with excellent control, breaking early in both sets and shaking off five double faults to seal the victory inside 60 minutes.
“I’m lucky: I’ve been able to train on clay since I was 10, which is not common for Americans,” Gauff said.
“I love sliding and sometimes I surprise myself.”
