Swiatek in fourth-round action - day eight preview
Iga Swiatek is on a 15-match winning streak on clay courts
- Published
Defending champion Iga Swiatek will be the firm favourite when she returns to French Open action on Sunday against Russian Anastasia Potapova.
Swiatek has won her each of her past 17 matches at Roland Garros and is hoping to reach the quarter-finals for a fifth consecutive year.
Last time out, the Polish top seed celebrated her 23rd birthday with a routine victory over Czech Marie Bouzkova, whereas world number 43 Potapova edged past Xinyu Wang of China in a three-set encounter to reach the fourth round for the first time.
That match will open proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier (10:00 BST), followed by American third seed Coco Gauff taking on unseeded Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and eighth seed Ons Jabeur play first and third respectively on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
In the men's draw, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas are all scheduled to be in action.
Coco Gauff was runner-up to Iga Swiatek in the 2022 French Open final
US Open champion Gauff is set for a potentially difficult tie with Cocciaretto.
The Italian has already knocked out two seeded opponents at Roland Garros this year, beating Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round and cruising past Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets last time out.
That said, 2022 French Open finalist Gauff did get the better of Cocciaretto when the two met most recently, winning 6-1 7-5 at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February.
Alcaraz bidding to reach last eight
Carlos Alcaraz is aiming for a third major title, having already won Wimbledon and the US Open
In the men's draw, Alcaraz faces 21st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada, who has never reached the quarter-finals in Paris but does boast three wins over the Spaniard on hard courts across his career.
The winner of that tie will meet the victor of Tsitsipas' match with unseeded Matteo Arnaldi, the Italian world number 35 who beat sixth seed Andrey Rublev on Friday.
Greek ninth seed Tsitsipas, the French Open runner-up in 2021, has made the fourth round for the sixth year in a row.
Sinner, who won the Australian Open at the start of the year, faces the final Frenchman remaining in the men's draw, Corentin Moutet, in the night-session match on Chatrier.