Kontaveit reached round three on the clay at the Roland Garros, previously somewhat of a bogey-man of a tournament for her, having crashing out in round one in the previous two years, via an epic first-round encounter with Swiss player Viktorija Golubic, which saw two of the three sets go to tie-breaks, followed for contrast by a rapid, straight-set dispatching of local player, Kristina Mladnovic 6:2, 6:0.

Świątek, who won the French Open in 2020, did much the same thing to Rebecca Peterson of Sweden on Thursday.

The Estonian, ranked 30th in the world, and the Pole, ranked 8th, did not start their game until 5 p.m. Estonian time.

Set one started off well for Kontaveit, who broke her opponent's serve, holding her own in the next game. This one-game gap lasted to game eight, when Świątek, 20, returned the favor by breaking her opponent's serve. Neither player gave anything up after that, and things were soon at 6:6, prompting a tie break situation, something of a specialty for the Estonian, 25, from Tallinn. However, in this case the advantage went to Świątek , ranked eighth in the world, who took the set 6:7 (7:4).

Set two was all about Świątek, as she soon rushed to a commanding 5:0 lead, breaking Kontaveit's serve three times in the process. The Estonian put up a strong fight in game six, starting off 30:0, but it was still not enough as the Pole pulled back to 30:30, then 40:30, then game and thus set and match.

Świątek next faces Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine, WTA 77th) in round four.

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