19-Year-Old Iga Swiatek Snaps Simona Halep’s 17-Match Winning Streak in 68 Minutes at French Open 2020

Tops seed Simona Halep was stunned by 19-year-old Iga Swiatek in the 4th round tie in Paris. Swiatek carved her way through for an easy straight-set victory. The match lasted only 68 minutes.

Halep came into the match with a 17- match winning streak. The World No.2 was on a roll and had dispatched Amanda Anisimova easily in the previous round. Swiatek and Halep had met only once in their careers at last year’s French Open. Back then, Halep had thrashed Swiatek 6-1,6-0. However, Swiatek avenged her defeat today in the best fashion possible.

Simona Halep vs Iga Swiatek : First Set

The Halep everybody knew was missing for the majority of the first set as Swiatek was powering through the Romanian easily. Swiatek’s forehand ticked all boxes.

Swiatek was up 3-0 in the set and Halep had no answers. In the longer rallies, Halep’s shots were looking ordinary while Swiatek’s strokes were smooth and quick.

Her forehand had depth, spin and she was finding ridiculous angles with the utmost ease. Swiatek was up 5-1 in 20 minutes as she got a second break. Finally, she wrapped the set 6-1 in just 27 mins. Swiatek hit a staggering 17 winners in the opening set.

Second Set

Halep was visibly frustrated and routinely hitting unforced errors. Moreover, Swiatek got an early break after Halep missed a few sitters.

Swiatek easily nullified Halep’s power-hitting as the Romanian lacked depth in her shots. In fact, the Polish teenager was dictating the tennis at Court Philippe-Chartier.

Halep, who is known to be gritty in rallies, wasn’t able to defend the majority of Swiatek’s fierce strokes. Halep’s 2nd service game at 2-0 went on for more than 10 minutes as she saved numerous breakpoints to just hold her serve, trailing at 2-1. Halep was vulnerable on her serve as she committed a lot of double faults.

Swiatek’s service holds were easy with no pressure from Halep. However, Swiatek wanted to completely decimate Halep with a double break. After a long struggle, she achieved exactly that.

At this point, Halep was hanging by a thread with Swiatek leading at 4-1. Halep was trying hard but nothing was working for her. She even tried hitting a few slices, but it didn’t work. Halep’s strokes were out of depth and were no match for Swiatek. At 5-2, Swiatek easily held her serve and won the match 6-1, 6-2.

The match turned out to be a horror show from Halep who couldn’t find a single breakpoint. For Swiatek, it was like a dream come true. With this performance, she has surely pitted herself as a title favorite.