Iga Swiatek Tops Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4 With Rafa Nadal Praise

Iga Swiatek beat Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4 at Roland Garros and moved into the fourth round in Paris. The World No. 3 is still in position to add to her four French Open titles, and her latest match carried extra weight because Linette had beaten her at the Miami Open earlier this year.

Roland Garros Fourth Round

Swiatek handled the scoreline cleanly. She took both sets 6-4, which was enough to send her through to a meeting with Marta Kostyuk, who arrived with 15 straight clay-court victories after beating Viktorija Golubic in straight sets.

The win also settled a recent edge between the two Poles. Linette had knocked Swiatek out of the Miami Open earlier this year, but this time Swiatek controlled the crucial games in both sets and left no opening for a turnaround.

Rafa Nadal’s Approach

After the match, Swiatek pointed to Rafael Nadal as part of her clay-court preparation. “There was some technical tips, but the most you can take from Rafa actually is his approach to the game and also him showing it’s not always easy,” she said.

She expanded on that idea in one of the clearest lines of the night: “It’s like on TV when he lifts his trophy, there’s a lot behind the scenes.” Swiatek added, “Even the best players in the world sometimes struggle.”

Her comments fit a larger pattern around this clay season. Swiatek and Nadal worked with each other at the beginning of the clay-court swing, after she ended her working relationship with Wim Fissette and began working with Francisco Roig, who spent much of Nadal’s dominant run on his team.

Swiatek’s Clay-Court Record

The result keeps Swiatek in a familiar place at Roland Garros. She has won the tournament four times, including three titles in a row between 2022 and 2024, and her first French Open crown came in 2020 after beating Sofia Kenin in the final.

Her only loss at Roland Garros in the last five years came in the semi-finals against Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in three sets. That record frames the stakes in Paris as she moves deeper into the draw with Nadal’s influence still part of her preparation.

For now, the next step is Kostyuk, and Swiatek enters that match with a straight-sets win, a strong clay-court record, and a clear message about where she says her focus comes from: not perfection, but persistence.