Iga Swiatek is a win away from claiming her fourth French Open title after dismissing third seed Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
The world No.1 continued her surge in the tournament with a resounding 6-2, 6-4, win over world No.3 Gauff, who is the current US Open champion. Swiatek has now won 20 consecutive matches at Roland Garros which is a milestone that has only been matched by four other women in the Open Era. So far in year’s tournament, she has dropped one set which was against Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Swiatek was able to dominate her latest match with the help of some costly mistakes from her rival, who hit 39 unforced errors. Her defensive skills proved to be too much for Gauff who struggled for consistency in her game.
“It was intense,” Swiatek said during her on-court interview. “In the second set, it was kinda tight because we were breaking each other but I’m happy that I was consistent with my tactics. I didn’t overthink stuff and just went for it at the end.”
Swiatek, who had won 10 out of her 11 previous meetings against Gauff going into today’s match, got off to a dream start. A series of tentative shots from the American handed the top seed the early break as she went on to extend her lead. Swiatek was made to work harder in the first set than the score suggests with her saving break points in her two opening service games. However, she continued to maintain the upper hand in the match as she sealed the 6-2 lead in less than 40 minutes.
Gauff’s frustration reached boiling early in the second set when the umpire made a questionable decision regarding a Swiatek serve in favour of the higher-ranked player. Prompting an argument to unfold between the umpire and the 20-year-old, who began to cry before going on to break for the first time.
Embed from Getty ImagesGauff: “I didn’t even finish my follow through. He called it before I hit it. Can you ask him?”
Umpire: “We cannot ask him.”
Gauff: “They’re (the crowd) booing because you’re wrong… I have the right to finish my swing.”
Umpire: “To me it didn’t affect the shot.”
Gauff: “This is the 2nd time this has happened. It’s a Grand Slam Semifinal. Know the rules of the game.”
Despite the blip, Swiatek managed to fight back against a lacklustre Gauff in clinical fashion by winning four games in a row to move to the verge of victory. Then after missing a trio of match-point chances against the Gauff Serve, she managed to seal victory in her own service game.
“She’s progressing a lot, you can see that in her results.” She said in tribute to Gauff.
“Last year’s US Open showed that she’s tough and I think at her age it is obvious that she is going to grow. It’s nice to see her handling everything well around her because it is not easy.
“I’m sure we are going to have plenty of more intense matches at the highest level. Coco is one of the consistent players out there.”
It is the 17th time in her career that Swiatek has beaten a top five player with 16 of those victories taking place after she moved to world No.1. She has now reached the final of Paris in four out of the last five years and another victory of Saturday would make her the first woman to claim the title for a third year in a row since Justine Henin.
Awaiting her in the title match will be either Jasmine Paolini or Mirra Andreeva, who are two players yet to play in a Grand Slam final. She leads Paolini 2-0 in their head-to-head but is yet to play 17-year-old Andreeva on the Tour.
“I’m trying to mix it up a little because how long can you stay in the same routine?” Swiatek replied when asked if she had any rituals ahead of the final.
“I’m socialising more but I am also that kind of player who wants to stay in the bubble. I want to balance it well.”
In the Open Era, Swiatek is the second-youngest player to make four French Open finals after Stefanie Graf in 1990.
