"I refuse to be a victim" - Tennis star jokes about quitting singles to avoid Swiatek's wrath

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has been on a hot streak over the past two years, and is on the path to winning her third consecutive Roland Garros title. It comes as no surprise that her opponents would rather avoid her, a fact that was coyly suggested by Australian tennis star Ellen Perez.

After dismantling Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0 in their fourth round encounter, Swiatek is scheduled to face reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the quarterfinals. The Polish star is inching closer to lifting her fourth Roland Garros title in five years, another accolade to add to her already impressive resume.

However, Swiatek's dominant victory over Potapova also helped her maintain another impressive streak, as pointed out by reporter Bastien Fachen.

"Iga Swiatek is now on an oddly specific and kinda scary streak of four consecutive years double bageling an opponent whose name starts with a P," wrote Fachen on Twitter.

Swiatek began this onslaught in 2021, recording a double bagel victory over Karolina Pliskova, Andreea Prisacariu in 2022 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last year. The sequence continued on Sunday with her latest resounding display against Russian player Potapova.

Australian star Perez, got wind of the statistic and took to social media to jokingly voice her opinion.

"See this is why I stopped playing singles. I refuse to be a victim,” wrote Perez on Twitter.

The 28-year old opted to focus on doubles this season, and is currently ranked at World No.8 in that format. Perez has played in the semifinals of both the French and US Open, and reached the last eight at Wimbledon. However, she has never been past the first round at a Grand Slam in singles competition.