Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP 23:07 p.m., June 05, 2023

Iga Swiatek did not have to work. The Pole benefited from the abandonment of Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko as she led 5-1 in the first set. Iga Swiatek will face American Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals, the same clash as the tournament final in 2022.

World No. 1 and trophy holder Iga Swiatek joined World No. 6 Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros on Monday, for a repeat of the 2022 final, benefiting from the abandonment after six games of Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (66th). Tsurenko gave up after about thirty minutes of play, while she was led 5 games to 1 by Swiatek. At the previous change of side, seeming to have trouble breathing and feeling dizzy, the 34-year-old Ukrainian had called the doctor, who was seen to take her blood pressure.

Earlier in the day, Gauff dismissed Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (100th) 7-5, 6-2 in about 1h30 min. "I would say I have something like Rybakina, a virus or something like that," Tsurenko compared. World No. 4 Elena Rybakina, who is ill, withdrew moments before her third round on Saturday.

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"Unfortunately, it got worse"

"I couldn't train yesterday (Sunday), and today (Monday) it was difficult to warm up but I was hoping that I would feel a little bit better starting the match. Unfortunately, it got worse, so I had to stop," she continued. "I started to feel it very slightly before my previous match, I had a sore throat, but physically it was fine. It really started afterwards. I had a bad night, and yesterday I trained maybe ten minutes, my heart rate was too high, and my nose has been very congested the last two days," Tsurenko said.

For Swiatek, on the other hand, everything is fine. Since the beginning of her Parisian fortnight, the 22-year-old Polish has not let a set slip. She has even inflicted four 6-0 on her opponents, one in the first round, one in the second and two in the third. "Every game I've played better and better, and even today, the time of those few games, I was pretty confident," she said.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, world number 2, being qualified for the quarterfinals, Swiatek must imperatively climb to the last four to have a chance of maintaining the throne of world number 1 at the end of Roland-Garros. A year ago, Swiatek, winner of the first time Porte d'Auteuil in 2020, had dominated 6-1, 6-3 Gauff, for the first time in the final of a Grand Slam, at 18 years old. This is the third year in a row that the 19-year-old American has reached the quarterfinals on the Parisian clay.