French Open: Swiatek outmaneuvers Czech foe to reach third round

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Iga Swiatek pulled off another clinical display of tennis after sweeping Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the third round of the ongoing French Open on May 27, 2026, on Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris, France.

With the victory, Swiatek extended her perfect streak to back-to-back matches without dropping a single set and is aiming to sustain her momentum today, when she squares off against Magda Linette in the third round.

Swiatek got off to a red-hot start, pummeling Bejlek with her signature baseline aggression, and made sure no slow start would dim her French Open campaign.

Unlike in her opening match against Australian challenger Emerson Jones, where she conceded an early break point, Swiatek quickly grabbed a double-break lead and never looked back.

Bejlek still had a decent groundstroke game at the start of the opener, but once Swiatek figured her out and started countering with flatter balls on the backhand side, the momentum began to swing in her favor.

Swiatek then ballooned her lead after sending in a barrage of forehand down-the-line winners, capped by a break point to move a set away from taking a 1-0 lead.

Bejlek nearly battled back to stay the course, but a Swiatek crosscourt backhand winner, followed by a crucial chop drop, helped her seal the deal.

Despite missing several chances to equalize, Bejlek continued her net pressure, which Swiatek felt in the first four games.

Swiatek countered by throwing more lobs, which caught Bejlek off guard, forcing her to rush back to the baseline and recalibrate her return.

However, those sequences slowed down Bejlek as the crafty Swiatek pulled all the tricks out of her sleeve, including an unorthodox on-the-rise first-ball return followed by a net volley winner.

Swiatek put the icing on the cake with a break point in the eighth game and put the crowd on its feet with a match-sealing backhand drive, which landed perfectly on the right baseline spot.

After the sweeping win, the six-time Grand Slam queen capped the match with 65 total points won, including seven break points and 31 on the return.

“It was a tricky match in terms of the rhythm, because Sara plays differently than most of the players,” Swiatek said.

“But I’m happy with the way I adjusted and how I was making decisions, because sometimes, yeah, it was not so obvious when to go and attack and stay back.”