Iga Swiatek wins 13th straight match and reaches 4th round of Italian Open

Two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek swept Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the fourth round of the Italian Open on Sunday and extend her winning streak at the Foro Italico to 13 matches.

Having defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0 in her opening match after a first-round bye, Swiatek has now dropped just two games in four sets.

Swiatek produced 22 winners to Tsurenko’s two.

If she lifts the trophy again, Swiatek will join Chris Evert and Conchita Martinez as the third woman to win three consecutive titles in Rome.

The top-ranked Swiatek will next play 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova or 21st seed Donna Vekic, who played later.

Also advancing on red clay was 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated ninth seed Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-3.

Madison Keys advanced to the round of 16 when Victoria Azarenka withdrew before her match due to a right leg injury.

Fognini attacks the referee

In men’s action, Holger Rune kept his composure amid a partisan crowd and eliminated Fabio Fognini, the Italian veteran, 6-4, 6-2.

Fognini took issue with a penalty early in the first set and protested at length to the chair umpire when his shot was disallowed after the mark was verified.

“How can you call this ball out? How can you make this mistake? There’s no room,” Fognini said. “It’s impossible. How can you be so bad?”

Daniil Medvedev scored his first career victory in Rome by beating Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-2. The Russian had lost his first match in his three previous appearances at the Forum.

In addition, Stefanos Tsitsipas needed just two games to finish with a second-round win over Nuno Borges, 6-3, 6-3, in a rainout on Saturday.

Later, six-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic played Grigor Dimitrov and home favorite Jannik Sinner faced Alexander Shevchenko.