Aryna Sabalenka beat Iga Swiatek to progress to the French Open final. The world number one beat earned a 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-0 victory against fifth seed Swiatek, who was in a 26-match unbeaten streak in the tournament.
With the win, Sabalenka is now close to winning her first French Open. She will face Coco Gauff, who dominated French wildcard Lois Boisson to register a comfortable victory.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, started well against Swiatek but the Polish scripted a textbook comeback, winning the second set 4-6. However, Sabalenka bounced back and dominated the third set in a 26-minute bagel, winning 6-0. Notably, the Belarusian has won multiple grand slams on hard courts but has done well on clay this time, qualifying for her first French Open final.
After the win, Sabalenka remained grounded, reminding that the job is yet to be completed. She noted that Swiatek has been her toughest opponent and mentioned that she is proud to get the job done this time around.
“It feels incredible but the job is not done yet. I’m thrilled with my performance. Iga is the toughest opponent, especially at Roland Garros, I’m proud I managed to get this win,” the 27-year-old said.
Notably, Sabalenka and Swiatek have been extremely dominant in recent times, claiming six of the past 10 majors between them. When the French Open was held, all the eyes were on the duo as Swiatek is often regarded as the ‘queen of clay’ while Sabalenka remained the world number one. On the day of the match, the conditions favoured Sabalenka heavily, and she was quick to take advantage of that.
Swiatek addressed the same after the game as she mentioned of Sabalenka’s strong start and her poor execution. “I think I lost my intensity a bit. She played as strong as in the first set, but I didn’t react to that well and just couldn’t push back,” she said.