Behind the scenes at Cannes Film Festival: New dress code causing a stir
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Film critic Rad Simonpillai reports from Cannes, France, where A-list celebrities are promoting their new films.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Coco Gauff defeats Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 to reach her second French Open final
Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates as she won the semifinal match of the French Tennis Open against France's Lois Boisson at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) PARIS — As popular as Coco Gauff is, she knew full well that nearly all of the 15,000 fans at Court Philippe-Chatrier would be against her during the French Open semifinals Thursday. That's because Gauff, an American, was taking on a French opponent — and one who came from nowhere, 361st-ranked Loïs Boisson. So the No. 2-seeded Gauff turned to a trick that 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic has talked about using: When the partisan crowd was loudly singing Boisson's first name, Gauff pretended they were chanting 'Coco!' Not that it mattered much, truly, because Gauff was by far the superior player throughout a 6-1, 6-2 victory that earned her a second trip to the final at Roland-Garros. Three years ago, Gauff missed out on a chance to leave with the trophy when Iga Swiatek beat her. This time, Swiatek won't be around for the championship match on Saturday, because her 26-match unbeaten run at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament ended earlier Thursday with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 loss to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka vs. Gauff will be the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 final in Paris since 2013, when Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, and just the second in the last 30 years. Gauff figures to hear at least the occasional 'Allez, Coco!' while meeting Sabalenka. But that wasn't really in the offing against Boisson, who beat No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva while becoming the first woman since 1989 to get all the way to the semifinals in her first Grand Slam tournament. It's been a quarter-century since a woman representing France won the singles title at Roland-Garros — Mary Pierce in 2000 — so Boisson became front-page news. The flags flapping in the stands, and the raucous applause and yells accompanying each point Boisson won, were hard to miss. 'I was mentally prepared before the match that it was going to be 99% for her. But I just tried to block it out,' Gauff told the spectators during her on-court interview, laughing as she explained her thought process. 'And actually, when you guys were chanting her name, I was saying to myself my name. Just to kind of psych myself out. You have to do that.' Then she added: 'I know you guys would usually root for me if I'm not playing a French (foe).' Gauff never really allowed the atmosphere to become much of a factor, because she took Boisson out of the match from the get-go, grabbing 20 of the first 30 points to lead 4-0. As much as Boisson's game is fit for clay, Gauff is rather adept on the slower surface, too. Her speed and reflexes allow her to track down shot after shot, elongating points and making the player across the net come up with the goods over and over. Boisson finished with just seven winners. And Gauff made only 15 unforced errors, fewer than half of Boisson's total of 33. When the exchanges grew longer, Gauff got better. She won 34 of 51 points that lasted five strokes or more. 'Congratulations to her on an incredible tournament,' Gauff said, 'but today just happened to be my day.' Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Top-ranked Sabalenka ends Swiatek's 26-match French Open win streak
No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek's 26-match French Open unbeaten streak and reached the final in Paris for the first time by using her pure power to dominate down the stretch and win their semifinal 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 on Thursday. Sabalenka's victory prevented Swiatek from becoming the first woman to win four consecutive championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament since professionals were admitted in 1968. It also gives Sabalenka a chance to win her fourth major title, and first away from hard courts, after two at the Australian Open and one at the U.S. Open. "It feels incredible, but I also understand that the job is not done yet," said Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus who took the top WTA ranking from Swiatek last October. "She's the toughest opponent, especially on the clay, especially at Roland-Garros. I'm proud that I was able to get this win. It was a tough match, but I managed it, somehow." Sabalenka will face No. 2 Coco Gauff or 361st-ranked French wild-card entry Lois Boisson in the final on Saturday. In a nod to Boisson's status as the home favourite, Sabalenka joked to the crowd during her post-match interview: "I'm pretty sure you're going to be cheering for one person like crazy, and I'm not sure if I really want her to win." Most remarkable about Sabalenka's win Saturday, perhaps, was the way -her back dotted with flecks of the rust-colored clay - she dominated in crunch time, racing through the last set. "I mean, 6-love," she said. "What can I say? Couldn't be more perfect than that." Swiatek's explanation? "I lost my intensity a bit," she said. "Just couldn't push back." Terrific stretches of tennis With the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof closed on a drizzly day, there was no wind or other elements for the players to confront, and both produced some terrific tennis for stretches. But in the end, the difference was that when Sabalenka decided to swing away, she rushed Swiatek into mistakes. This stat says it all: The third set included 12 unforced errors off Swiatek's racket, and zero off Sabalenka's. This continues a rough stretch for Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, who has not even reached a final at any tournament since walking away with her third trophy in a row - and fifth Grand Slam title overall - from Paris 12 months ago. She recently slid to No. 5 in the rankings. Her rut includes a surprising exit in the semifinals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which were contested at Roland-Garros; she ended up with the bronze medal. Then, later last season, she was banned for a month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was unintentional and caused by a contaminated medicine. Sabalenka is, unquestionably, as good as it gets in women's tennis right now. Even before getting to this final, her six appearances in title matches this year were the most for a woman entering the French Open since Serena Williams in 2013. And her first-strike tennis, always such a threat on faster surfaces, is clearly quite useful on the slower clay, too. On Saturday, the thuds generated by her contact with the ball reverberated off the inside of the retractable roof. "She didn't doubt," Swiatek said. "She just went for it." Even though Sabalenka broke in the first game and soon led 4-1 -- at which point Swiatek was glancing up at her coach, Wim Fissette, in the stands, hoping for some sort of insight that could change things -- this was not one-way traffic. Swiatek ended up leading 5-4 in that set, but when they got to the tiebreaker, Sabalenka asserted herself. Swiatek took a lengthy trip to the locker room before the second set, something she often does after ceding one, and came out playing better, quickly breaking to 1-0. The 15,000 or so spectators seemed mainly to be pulling for Swiatek, perhaps hoping to see a bit of history, and broke into chants of "I-ga!" rather frequently. That might have rubbed Sabalenka the wrong way, because after striking a return winner, she windmilled her arms at the mild reaction, as if to say, "Hey! I'm here, too! And I'm No. 1. How about sending some support this way?"
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka ends Iga Swiatek's 26-match French Open winning streak and reaches the final
PARIS (AP) — No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek's 26-match French Open unbeaten streak and reached the final in Paris for the first time by using her pure power to dominate down the stretch and win their semifinal 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 on Thursday. Sabalenka's victory prevented Swiatek from becoming the first woman to win four consecutive championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament since professionals were admitted in 1968. It also gives Sabalenka a chance to win her fourth major title — and first away from hard courts, after two at the Australian Open and one at the U.S. Open. 'It feels incredible, but I also understand that the job is not done yet,' said Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus who took the top WTA ranking from Swiatek last October. 'She's the toughest opponent, especially on the clay, especially at Roland-Garros. I'm proud that I was able to get this win. It was a tough match. … but I managed it, somehow.' Sabalenka will face No. 2 Coco Gauff or 361st-ranked French wild-card entry Loïs Boisson in the final on Saturday. In a nod to Boisson's status as the home favorite, Sabalenka joked to the crowd during her postmatch interview: 'I'm pretty sure you're going to be cheering for one person like crazy, and I'm not sure if I really want her to win.' Most remarkable about Sabalenka's win Saturday, perhaps, was the way — her back dotted with flecks of the rust-colored clay — she dominated in crunch time, racing through the last set. 'I mean, 6-love,' she said. 'What can I say? Couldn't be more perfect than that.' Swiatek's explanation? 'I lost my intensity a bit,' she said. 'Just couldn't push back.' With the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof closed on a drizzly day, there was no wind or other elements for the players to confront, and both produced some terrific tennis for stretches. But in the end, the difference was that when Sabalenka decided to swing away, she rushed Swiatek into mistakes. This stat says it all: The third set included 12 unforced errors off Swiatek's racket, and zero off Sabalenka's. This continues a rough stretch for Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, who has not even reached a final at any tournament since walking away with her third trophy in a row — and fifth Grand Slam title overall — from Paris 12 months ago. She recently slid to No. 5 in the rankings. Her rut includes a surprising exit in the semifinals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which were contested at Roland-Garros; she ended up with the bronze medal. Then, later last season, she was banned for a month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was unintentional and caused by a contaminated medicine. Sabelanka is, unquestionably, as good as it gets in women's tennis right now. Even before getting to this final, her six appearances in title matches this year were the most for a woman entering the French Open since Serena Williams in 2013. And her first-strike tennis, always such a threat on faster surfaces, is clearly quite useful on the slower clay, too. On Saturday, the thuds generated by her contact with the ball reverberated off the inside of the retractable roof. 'She didn't doubt,' Swiatek said. 'She just went for it.' Even though Sabalenka broke in the first game and soon led 4-1 — at which point Swiatek was glancing up at her coach, Wim Fissette, in the stands, hoping for some sort of insight that could change things — this was not one-way traffic. Swiatek ended up leading 5-4 in that set, but when they got to the tiebreaker, Sabalenka asserted herself. Swiatek took a lengthy trip to the locker room before the second set, something she often does after ceding one, and came out playing better, quickly breaking to 1-0. The 15,000 or so spectators seemed mainly to be pulling for Swiatek, perhaps hoping to see a bit of history, and broke into chants of 'I-ga!' rather frequently. That might have rubbed Sabalenka the wrong way, because after striking a return winner, she windmilled her arms at the mild reaction, as if to say, 'Hey! I'm here, too! And I'm No. 1. How about sending some support this way?' ___ AP tennis:
