French Open: Aryna Sabalenka dethrones Iga Swiatek to reach final
Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek's bid for a fourth straight French Open title as the world number one powered her way to a maiden Roland Garros final on Thursday, June 5. The Belarusian snapped Swiatek's French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-0 success and will face either second seed Coco Gauff or French surprise hero Loïs Boisson on Saturday for the title.
"It feels incredible but also I understand that the job is not done yet. I'm just thrilled with the performance today," said the 27-year-old. "What can I say, 6-0 – it couldn't be much more perfect than that!"
Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight breaks of serve in a tie-break, before Swiatek hit back to level the match. The finale turned out to be a complete anti-climax, as Swiatek made 12 unforced errors in the third set and won only six points.
Sabalenka is targeting a fourth Grand Slam title and first not on hard courts, after winning last year's US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. Swiatek has still not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.
She showed signs of a revival on the Paris clay where she has dominated since lifting the title as a teenager in 2020, but her game deserted her in the deciding set as she slipped to only the third French Open defeat of her career.
Sabalenka has now won their last two meetings, and five of 13 in total. This was the first time the pair, the dominant players in women's tennis of the past few years, had gone head-to-head at a Grand Slam tournament since Swiatek's win in the 2022 US Open semi-finals en route to the title.
Sabalenka will be a strong favorite to lift the trophy when she takes on either Gauff, who she lost to in the 2023 US Open final, or world number 361 Boisson.
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