Iga Swiatek shmears bagel talk after dominant Roland Garros display

WATCH: Swiatek addressed her comprehensive win over Wang Xinyu in press on Saturday.

PARIS—Iga Swiatek’s proverbial Bakery was open for business in the third round of Roland Garros, but despite an emphatic 6-0, 6-0 win over Wang Xinyu, the world No. 1 was loathe to gloat too much about the ruthless display.

“I don't want to really talk about that,” she said of the trending topic on Saturday. “I really get why people do that, because it's fun and tennis is entertainment and everything. But like from players' point of view, I want to kind of be respectful to my opponents and, you know, you don't see the stuff that is behind the scenes. Sometimes it's not easy to play such matches and sometimes it's not easy also for the opponents.”

Iga’s Bakery quickly became a meme as her tennis turned unbeatable in the spring of 2022: recapping her unforgettable season, @SwiatekOOC compiled 42 total 6-0 and 6-1 sets—also known as “bagels” and “breadsticks” —out of 76 total matches played.

But what happens on Twitter, says Swiatek, ought to stay there.

“I don't want to talk about the bakery,” she concluded. “Twitter can talk about it but I'm just going to be focused on tennis. And, yeah, with respect to my opponents, I really don't want to get into that.”

Swiatek was fresh off her fourth bagel in three matches, handing out one to each of her opening round opponents, Cristina Buçsa and Claire Liu, but saved her best for the unseeded 21-year-old, who earned a career-high ranking of No. 59 back in April.

As the second week looms, the defending champion is naturally keen not to get too complacent as she aims to win a third Roland Garros title.

“I always try to kind of be careful, because you don't want to get lazy after winning these matches,” she explained. “It's never easy to win these matches. But on the other hand, sometimes all your head can remember is the score, and I always want to kind of be ready for, you know, every situation.

“I just try to kind of take as much positive things like confidence…feeling that I can play my tennis. But kind of also reset from all the other stuff and the expectations and go another match like it's a new one.”

Complacency may be her biggest hurdle against familiar opponent Lesia Tsurenko, who had a phenomenal day of her own against Bianca Andreescu to hand a pair of "breadsticks" to the 2019 US Open champion. In two previous meetings with the resurgent Ukrainian, Swiatek has dropped a combined four games and served two 6-0 sets—at this tournament in 2022 and just two weeks ago at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.