Swiatek Eyes Last Eight As Shadow Of War Darkens French Open Mood

Paris, June 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jun, 2023 ) :Two-time champion Iga Swiatek targets a place in the French Open quarter-finals on Monday as the war in Ukraine casts a shadow over the Grand Slam showpiece.

Swiatek, bidding to become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to win back-to-back titles in Paris, has made the fourth round with ease.

Four of the six sets the 22-year-old has played have been 'bagels' where an opponent fails to win a single game.

Hapless Wang Xinyu was double-bageled by the Pole in the last 32, going down to defeat in just 51 minutes.

Swiatek tackles Lesia Tsurenko and will again be overwhelming favourite having easily defeated the 34-year-old in their two previous meetings, including the first round at Roland Garros last year for the loss of just two games.

But Tsurenko hasn't dropped a set so far and has made the last 16 by knocking out two former Slam champions in Barbora Krejcikova and Bianca Andreescu.

"The next match is the biggest challenge on the tour right now. She's world number one," said Tsurenko.

Should 66th-ranked Tsurenko pull off a shock victory, she will join compatriot Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals.

That would mark the first time that two Ukrainian women have reached the last eight of the same Slam.

The war in Ukraine has been a constant issue at the tournament ever since world number two Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk on the opening weekend.

Kostyuk was booed for refusing to shake the hand of Sabalenka in protest over the war in which Belarus is a close ally of Russia.

Sabalenka has refused to carry out media commitments, claiming she does not "feel safe" having faced a barrage of questions over her stance on the war and her links to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

On Tuesday, Sabalenka faces Svitolina for a place in the semi-finals.

Svitolina has already said she will maintain the position of all Ukraine players in refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents.

She exchanged a cordial thumbs up with Daria Kasatkina after beating the Russian in Sunday's fourth round.