Swiatek hires Roig after split with Fissette as Pegula defends Charleston Open title

Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek has hired Francisco Roig, who was part ‌of Rafael Nadal’s team and later coached ​Emma Raducanu, after the Polish ‌world number four ‌ended her coaching partnership with Wim Fissette last month.

The six-time Grand Slam ‌winner split with Fissette after a 17-month stint following a shock early exit at the Miami Open with a loss to world number 50 Magda Linette.

“Welcome to the team, Francisco! Very ​excited for this new chapter,” Swiatek ‌wrote in an Instagram story on Thursday.

Spaniard Roig was part of Nadal’s team for 16 Grand Slam wins, but his stint as Raducanu’s coach lasted only ​six ‌months as the Briton struggled to ‌regain her form.

Swiatek has also struggled this year, facing quarter-final exits from the ‌Australian Open, Qatar ‌Open and Indian Wells before the loss ‌in Miami.

The 24-year-old will be gunning for her fifth French Open title when the second Grand ​Slam of the year starts next month.

Meanwhile, defending champion and top seed Jessica Pegula labored more than three hours to reach the round of 16 at the WTA Charleston Open on Wednesday with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Yulia Putintseva.

Pegula, the world number five from the United States, had clawed back a set but was broken to trail 0-2 in the third before mounting a final fightback.

“All I just kept thinking was, like, welcome to the clay court season,” Pegula said after grinding out the win on Charleston’s green clay.

Pegula, who enjoyed a first-round bye, said the breezy conditions and challenging shadows made it hard to respond aggressively to the high, looping shots from 72nd-ranked Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

“She’s a really tricky opponent in general,” Pegula said.

“I feel like especially on clay she can be really crafty, use high balls, low balls, slices, drop shots, and I felt like she was just honestly toying with me there for quite a while,” added the American, who was broken as she served for the match at 5-4 but broke back to give herself another opportunity to close it out.

Pegula is chasing her second title of the year, after a victory in Dubai in February.

Second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova withdrew from the tournament before her second-round opener on Wednesday, saying she had “a bit of an injury” picked up in Miami.

Agencies