"I refuse to be a victim": After Iga Swiatek's double-bagel thrashing at French Open, Ellen Perez jokingly blames Pole for halting her singles career
Iga Swiatek double-bageled Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round of the 2024 French Open. It marked an unusual statistic in the career of the Pole, which led to Ellen Perez joking that she halted her singles career so as not to become a victim of the Pole.
Three out of four of Swiatek's matches during her French Open title defense this year have been rather comfortable. She faced difficulties only in her second-round clash against Naomi Osaka. The Pole was 2-5 down in the deciding set and came back to win it 7-5.
The World No. 1's fourth-round clash was the quickest. She defeated Potapova 6-0, 6-0, within 40 minutes.
An unusual stat that is now part of Swiatek's career is that she has double-bageled an opponent whose surname starts with 'P' each year since 2021.
In 2021, she got the better of Czech player Karolina Pliskova in Rome. Next, in 2022, Iga Swiatek defeated Romanian player Andreea Priscariu during the Billie Jean King Cup. In 2023, she double-bageled Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Rome and in 2024, Potapova became her latest victim.
Upon getting to know this stat, Ellen Perez, another tennis player whose surname starts with 'P' joked about halting her singles career so she would not become a Swiatek victim. Perez quoted a post on X that mentioned Swiatek's unique stat and wrote:
"See this is why I stopped playing singles. I refuse to be a victim."
The Australian player is currently competing in the mixed doubles and women's doubles events at the French Open. She is partnering with Nicole Melichar-Martinez in the women's doubles and the pair will face the Chinese duo of Wang Xiyu and Yue Yuan in the second round.
Meanwhile, Perez is partnering Matthew Ebden in the mixed doubles and the first-seed pair will take on the French pair of Tessah Andrianjafitrimo and Ugo Humbert in the second round.
When it comes to singles events, Perez is mostly inactive. Her last singles match came in October 2023, during the Zhengzhou Open.
Iga Swiatek will face fifth-seed Marketa Vondrousova in the French Open 2024 QF
A blockbuster WTA clash awaits in the quarterfinal of the 2024 French Open as Iga Swiatek takes on Marketa Vondrousova.
The pair have faced each other three times before and the Pole has a clean sweep over the Czech with three straight-set wins. Their last encounter was at the WTA Finals in 2023, where Swiatek defeated Vondrousova 7-6(3), 6-0. Their fourth encounter will take place on Tuesday, June 4.