French Open Day 7 recap: End of the road for Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, thumping win for Iga Swiatek, and more
Day 7 of the 2023 French Open marked the end of the first week of the tournament. The third-round matches for the singles took place, with women's top seed Iga Swiatek booking her place in the fourth round with a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing of Wang Xinyu.
Seventh seed Ons Jabeur also reached the Round of 16 as she came back from a set down to beat Olga Danilovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
On the men's circuit, Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov, and Alexander Zverev, all booked their respective spots in the fourth round. The only notable upset of the day was Taylor Fritz, who lost to Francisco Cerundolo.
On that note, let's take a look at some of the talking points of Day 7 of the French Open.
#1. No Americans left in the men's singles tournament
While three American women made it to the second week of the French Open, no male player could get that far.
Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe played their respective third-round matches on Day 7 and both ended up on the losing side.
Ninth seed Fritz faced 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo and won the first set 6-3. However, the Argentine bounced back and won the next three sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to book his place in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
Tiafoe suffered a similar fate against Alexander Zverev. The German came back from a set down to win 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 7-6(5) and reach the Round of 16 at Roland Garros.
#2. Iga Swiatek looking unstoppable at the moment
Defending women's singles champion Iga Swiatek won her first two matches at the French Open convincingly but she was ruthless in her third-round fixture against Wang Xinyu.
Swiatek thrashed the 21-year-old 6-0, 6-0 to book her place in the fourth round of the claycourt Major. It was the World No. 1's first-ever double bagel at a Grand Slam tournament and the first at Roland Garros since 2017 when Caroline Wozniacki beat Francoise Abanda.
The Pole won 50 out of 67 points in Saturday's match. She is yet to drop a set at the French Open this year and has lost only eight games so far. 21 out of her 24 career wins at the claycourt Major have come in straight sets.
The Pole will next take on Lesia Tsurenko in the fourth round at Roland Garros and the winner will face either sixth seed Coco Gauff or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the quarterfinals.
#3. Elena Rybakina's withdrawal from French Open 2023
Women's fourth seed Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw from the 2023 French Open due to illness. The Kazakh reached the third round of the tournament following straight-set wins over Brenda Fruhvirtova and Linda Noskova. She was scheduled to take on Sara Sorribes Tormo before announcing her withdrawal.
Rybakina said that she had a viral fever and headache, which made it difficult for her to run or even breathe.
"I saw the doctor, and they said that actually it's all a virus here in Paris. Yeah, I guess with my allergy, immune system just went down and I picked up something. As I said, I was not sleeping well two days. I had fever, headache. I mean, I think you can hear also," Rybakina said.
"So, yeah, it's difficult to perform and obviously to run and even breathe. So I think that was the only right decision I could make," she added.
Following Rybakina's withdrawal, Tormo will take on 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the fourth round of the event.
#4. Mirra Andreeva escapes default, loses to Coco Gauff
16-year-old qualifier Mirra Andreeva's run at the French Open came to an end as she lost 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 to sixth seed Coco Gauff.
The Russian was involved in a bit of drama during the first-set tiebreak. Unable to convert two set points, Andreeva hit a ball into the filled stands of Court Suzanne Lenglen. She escaped being defaulted but received a warning.
The Russian said in her post-match press conference that she knew what she did was "stupid" immediately after she hit the ball.
"Right after, I thought that it was a really stupid move from me, because it was not necessary to do that. That was not the best I could do. It was really bad what I did. Yes, I had thoughts like this (that she could be defaulted), but he just gave me a warning," Andreeva said.
After eliminating Andreeva, Gauff will take on Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the fourth round of the French Open.