Swiatek powers into French Open round three

PARIS: Reigning champion Iga Swiatek maintained her bid to become the first woman to successfully defend the French Open title in 16 years by cruising into the third round on Thursday.The world number one crushed American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier. Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, will face China´s Wang Xinyu on Saturday for a place in the second week. The Polish star could lose her world number one ranking for the first time in over a year next week if she fails to lift a fourth Grand Slam singles title.

Meanwhile, Justine Henin was the last woman to win back-to-back Roland Garros titles when she lifted her third in a row and fourth in total in 2007.Sixteen-year-old qualifier Mirra Andreeva reached the French Open last 32 on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Diane Parry to set up a potential clash against Coco Gauff.

She is just the seventh player under the age of 17 to make the third round in Paris since 1993, a group that includes the likes of Serena Williams and Martina Hingis. Andreeva, ranked at 143 in the world and making her Grand Slam debut, swept through the first set as home player Parry committed 15 unforced errors to the Russian´s five.Andreeva broke for a 3-2 lead in the second set and again for 5-2 when Parry served up her fourth double fault of the match. The Russian teenager, who was the youngest player to win a match at Roland Garros in 18 years when she came through the first round, secured victory after 77 minutes on a second match point.

"I´m happy that you didn´t see that I was nervous," said Andreeva. "I was a little bit shaky because I was playing a French girl and the crowd was cheering for her." Gauff, the runner-up to Iga Swiatek last year, can book a third round meeting with Andreeva if she defeats Julia Grabher later Thursday.

Gauff, 19, and Andreeva have practised together at Roland Garros. "She´s an experienced player. I am sure it will be a great match. She will do her best, I will do mine. We´ll have to see who does it better," added Andreeva.

World number four Elena Rybakina racked up her 30th win of the year on Thursday to reach the French Open last 32. The Wimbledon champion defeated Czech teenager Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-3 and will face Spain´s Sara Sorribes Tormo for a place in the last 16.

Kazakh fourth seed Rybakina, who could be the new world number one by the end of Roland Garros, converted three of the 10 break points she carved out and fired 30 winners past 18-year-old Noskova. Only Australian Open champion and world number two Aryna Sabalenka has more wins on tour this year than Rybakina.

The Belarusian player, another contender for the world top ranking, has 31. Meanwhile, Italian eighth seed Jannik Sinner missed two match points before being knocked out of the French Open in the second round on Thursday by German Daniel Altmaier after a dramatic five-set battle.Altmaier, the world number 79, twice staved off match points late in the fourth set before eventually prevailing 6-7 (0/7), 7-6 (9/7), 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 after five hours and 26 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The pair also played a five-set match in the US Open first round last year, when Sinner was the victor. Altmaier will take on Grigor Dimitrov for a spot in the second week. The 24-year-old twice averted defeat when Sinner was serving for a last-32 place in set four before winning the third tie-break of the match.Altmaier, who reached the fourth round in 2020, broke in game seven of the decider but then also failed to serve it out. He immediately gave himself another chance, though, and this time crept over the line as he secured a surprise win on his fifth match point after a thrilling final game in which he also saved three break points.