Iga Swiatek in race to claim second French Open title

Iga Swiatek, the 2020 French Open winner, will face Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the first round.

Since the surprising retirement of world number one Ashleigh Barty, the 20-year-old from Poland has swept past all rivals and transformed herself into the woman to beat in women’s tennis.

Swiatek has won five events in a row and is undefeated in 28 matches dating back to February in Dubai. Since Serena Williams’ 34-match winning streak in 2013, she has the longest winning streak on the WTA tour.

“I’m aware that this streak is something that may be coming to an end soon, so I don’t want to be like heartbroken when it’s going to happen,” said Swiatek.

Osaka, a Japanese superstar, claimed she was “concerned” about her comeback to the French Open, thinking she had “offended” people by withdrawing from the competition in 2021.

Osaka, a four-time major winner and former world number one, then took a vacation from tennis, admitting she had been suffering from melancholy.

“I’m not going to lie. Like when I first came here, I was very worried,” the 24-year-old said last week.

“I was just kind of worried that there were people that I offended in some way and I would just kind of bump into them.”

She opens against American 27th seed Amanda Anisimova, a semi-finalist in 2019.

Anisimova knocked Osaka out of the Australian Open in the third round this year.

Reigning women’s champion Barbora Krejcikova will play France’s Diane Parry in the round. The Czech world number two has been sidelined by an arm injury since late February and is yet to play on clay this year.

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