Sabalenka downs holder Swiatek to set up French Open final with Gauff

Japan Times

a day ago

World number one Aryna Sabalenka battled past four-time champion Iga Swiatek to reach her first French Open final with a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0 win on Thursday that ended the Pole's reign in Paris and snapped her 26-game winning streak at the tournament.
The Belarusian will face 2022 finalist Coco Gauff in Saturday's showcase match after the American crushed French hopes with a straight-sets victory over wild card Lois Boisson.
Sabalenka's power proved too much for defending champion Swiatek, who was looking to become the first female player in the Open era since 1968 to win four consecutive titles in Paris.
Swiatek had won the previous three editions along with her maiden crown in 2020.
"Honestly, it feels incredible but I understand the job is not done yet. I'm just thrilled today with this win and the atmosphere," Sabalenka said.
"She's the toughest opponent, especially on clay, especially at Roland Garros. It was a tough match, it was a tricky match but I managed."
Sabalenka, playing her second French Open semifinal and seeking her first title in Paris, powered into a 3-0 lead, twice breaking the Pole. She kept attacking her opponent's serve with Swiatek winning just 35% of her points on her second serve.
Swiatek, who late last year accepted a one-month doping ban and came into the tournament without a title win this season, had reached the semis dropping just one set in five matches. But she looked completely out of sorts on Thursday.
With seven unforced errors in the first three games the Pole was playing catch-up from the start.
She struggled with her serve and had racked up two double faults by the fifth game.
Swiatek gradually, however, found her range and precision, countering Sabalenka's raw power with superb ball placement and leveled when her opponent double-faulted on break point.
While the Pole found a way to grab the second set, Sabalenka was not to be denied, breaking the 24-year-old world number five at the start of the third to take control.
"I think the pace from her was super fast," Swiatek said. "Especially at the beginning of the match, she played just kind of as hard as possible and pretty risky. So it was just hard to get into any rally."
"In the third set I feel like we kind of came back to what happened in the first, and she for sure used her chances and I didn't really keep up what I was doing in the second set."
Sabalenka gave her opponent no chance with her thunderous groundstrokes, powering through the decider as Swiatek ran out of steam. "It could not be more perfect than that," Sabalenka said of her third-set performance. "I'm super proud right now, I'm glad I found my serve (again in the third set)."
Gauff had a much easier task against Boisson, the first women's wild card in the Open Era since 1968 to reach the last four of the French Open.
Boisson, ranked 361st in the world at the start, had taken the tournament by storm, beating two seeded players on her French Open debut, including world number three Jessica Pegula, but her scintillating run came to an abrupt halt against Gauff.
The 21-year-old second seed, who can become the first American since Serena Williams in 2015 to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup, was a cut above her opponent on the day.
"This is my first time playing a French player here. I was mentally prepared that it (the crowd) was to be 99% for her so I was trying to block it out," said Gauff.
For 22-year-old Boisson, who had played only two matches on the main tour in her career prior to the tournament, Gauff proved too big a hurdle.
"I don't know how to say, but she played on the right and on the left and on the right," Boisson said. "I just feel like I was running everywhere on the court today, so it was really tough."
"She was really solid, and I couldn't play my game today because she was just too good."