sports

Iga Swiatek overwhelms Coco Gauff to reach French Open final



PARIS — Iga Swiatek eliminated Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open semifinals Thursday and stretched her winning streak at Roland Garros to 20 matches.

The top-ranked Swiatek is trying to earn her fourth championship in five years in Paris and can become the first woman with three in a row here since Justine Henin from 2007 to ’09.

Swiatek improved to 11-1 overall against No. 3 seed Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, and has defeated her at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament three years in a row, including in the 2022 final and last year’s quarterfinals.

In Saturday’s title match, Swiatek will face either unseeded 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia or No. 12 Jasmine Paolini of Italy.

Swiatek is 4-0 in major finals so far and she has been at her dominant best for most of the past two weeks.

Putting aside a three-set, second-round victory over four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, when she was forced to save a match point, Swiatek has ceded a total of merely 17 games in her other five matches.

LEAVE A RESPONSE

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *