No sweat, no problem for Iga

MANILA, Philippines — Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek underlined her status at the heavy favorite for women’s gold at the Paris Olympics, swatting home hope Diane Parry aside 6-1, 6-1 on Monday.

Swiatek, who lost in the second round in Tokyo, meets China’s Wang Xiyu next for a place in the quarterfinals.

World number one Swiatek has won her last 23 matches at Roland Garros, with three clay titles already under her belt this season.

The Pole, tested in her opening match under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier, enjoyed a far more straightforward outing in bright sunshine on Monday.

Swiatek won the first five games of the match and broke five times as she strolled to victory in just 74 minutes.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were in an Olympic Games blockbuster as of presstime, their first meeting in over two years, while US second seed Coco Gauff plays Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle later.

Reigning men’s French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz takes on Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the evening.

Scorching heat posed a considerable problem for tennis players at the Tokyo Olympic, and the issue could resurface this week with highs of 35 degrees Celsius expected on Tuesday.

Biles a big hit

Simone Biles made a blockbuster return to Olympic competition on Sunday, powering through left calf pain to get her multiple-medal bid off to a rousing start.

The American, aiming to add to the four gold medals she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, tweaked her left calf warming up for her second apparatus, the floor exercise.

It didn’t stop her from soaring through her signature Yurchenko double pike vault – now known as the Biles II – which even with a big step back on landing earned a 9.4 for execution for a total of 15.800 points.

She topped the qualifying in all-around, vault and floor exercise, was second on beam behind China’s Zhou Yaquin and missed the uneven bars final.

Titmus eyes more gold

Another night of red-hot competition is in the offing in the pool, where the best swimmers on the planet will compete for five titles.

The last race of the night sees Titmus attempt to add the 200m freestyle crown to her dominant 400m triumph on Saturday.