India, May 25 -- "Like a cold shower". It's a phrase Iga Swiatek has used at least twice over the last couple of months. Once, speaking in Stuttgart and summarising how she felt earlier in the year when she wasn't playing well. And then, speaking in Paris a few days ago and describing her performance in Rome last year leading into the French Open.

That was when she was very un-Iga like, especially on clay where she had no title to show, and in a Slam which she entered as a three-time defending champion and exited in the semi-final. Far from being the red-hot force that sizzled on the red dirt, Swiatek was, well, cold.

She's warming up alright again - not quite while being at her blistering best yet but flashes of it are evident.

On a s...