Italian Open: Iga Swiatek reveals Francisco Roig’s ‘nice touch’ as things start to click on clay
Iga Swiatek brushed aside Naomi Osaka to reach the quarter-final of the Italian Open and – dare we say it – looked like the Swiatek of old on clay.
The six-time Grand Slam winner has struggled this year as she is yet to reach a semi-final on the WTA Tour while you have to go back to Wimbledon last July for her last title.
Her poor early-season hard-court campaign, which ended in a shock second-round exit from the Miami Open in March, resulted in her changing coaches as she parted ways with Wim Fissette and appointed Francisco Roig as her new mentor.
But there was no instant success on her favourite clay surface as she was beaten by Mirra Andreeva in the last eight of the Stuttgart Open and then retired with illness from her round of 32 match against Ann Li at the Madrid Open.
Swiatek also looked far from comfortable during her opening match in Rome against Caty McNally as she needed three sets to beat the American, but two matches later and the “old” Swiatek appears to be back.
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After hammering Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-0 in the third round, the Pole defeated fellow former world No 1 Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-1 to secure a last-eight encounter against Jessica Pegula.
“From the beginning till the end I knew what to do, and I did that great. I was pretty confident with my game,” the three-time Italian Open winner stated confidently after match.
She has now worked with Roig for nearly two full months and despite the results not going her way in their first two tournaments in Germany and Spain, Swiatek feels they clicked from day one.
“Honestly, I felt like I understood Francis from the beginning. I guess it also depends on the specific, like, relationship you have with the coach,” she explained.
“But I think any player wants a coach like with a good eye, a clear plan of what to do, how to achieve that. Francis has a really nice touch in terms of also, like, adjusting the practice to what the player needs right now. Also he’s aware of kind of all the factors that are coming in.
“It all kind of clicks together, I would say, both physical, mental and technical part on the practices. You know that he’s aware of all of these. It’s nice.”
Swiatek’s win over Osaka also means she is almost assured of staying at No 3 in the WTA Rankings ahead of Coco Gauff as the American will need to win the title to usurp the Pole.
