Swiatek Sweeps Past Gauff, Haddad Maia Next in French Open SFs; Sabalenka v Muchova

Iga Swiatek made it 7-0 and 14-0 in sets against Coco Gauff, dismissing the teen today in the French Open semifinals 6-4, 6-2.

“I’m pretty happy to be in the semifinal again of Roland Garros,” the 22-year-old Swiatek said. “It’s a great achievement no matter how the tournament is going to finish.

“I’m really happy I can show consistency and just play good here every year.”

In a rematch of their one-sided French Open final last year, Gauff was much-improved early on mixing power and defense plus touch to annoy the world No. 1.

Swiatek got up a break 3-1 but Gauff would level and stood two points from a 5-4 lead with the Polish star serving 4-all. Swiatek, though, focused and held and then broke for the set. Swiatek ended up winning eight of the last 10 games to pull away from Gauff.

“For sure it wasn’t easy, especially the first set, it was really tight… I’m really happy that I was able to work with it and win this match,” Swiatek said.

Swiatek reaches her third French Open semifinal and fifth Slam semifinal. Gauff will drop her final points from last year. She finished 1-for-5 on break chances.

“I think I had a couple of chances to maybe go up in the scoreboard. A couple of break point opportunities,” Gauff said.

“Little points can always change the momentum of the match, and she takes care of the details well, and it’s something that I do good too, but it’s obviously against her I need to do even better.”

She hopes to one day end her losing streak to Swiatek.

“Obviously, you lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy. It’s not fun at all, but also, every time I play her, I’m not thinking about the previous record,” she said.

“If I go in believing that I lost the match before it already happens, then I’m never going to win. But obviously when it’s over, yeah, it does suck.”

Swiatek will now take the surprising Beatriz Haddad Maia who won her third straight match from a set down defeating the favored Ons Jabeur 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 6-1.

“I was prepared for the game,” Haddad Maia said. “I knew that it would be very hard. It’s not easy to be a set down against Jabeur, and she was playing well. So when the match was done, I just looked to my team and said, ‘We made it.’

“I think it was one of the biggest and special wins for me, also because Jabeur is a player that I respect a lot. It’s very tough to come and go for it because one thing is to win a set, one thing is to have 5-3 and serve, and one thing is to go and win the match. I was very proud, and I think my face showed that, I think, hard working, it works sometimes.”

Jabeur had two break points for a 6-5 lead in the second but missed it and the Brazilian won seven of the last eight games to reach the biggest semifinal of her career. She had never beaten a Top 10 in a Slam and had never been past the second round at this level, but she did it the hard way.

“As I said yesterday, I think a tennis match is like a marathon, it’s not a 100 meters race,” Haddad Maia said. “I think one of my qualities is that I wait and I’m very patient and I never give up, so I wait for the moment because I know that my level is high. So even if I’m not playing well or even if I’m missing a few shots one moment, the tennis will appear, and I’ll have my opportunity to go for it.”

The 27-year-old Haddad Maia has played four three setters while Swiatek hasn’t dropped a set. But she did beat Swiatek on a windy day last summer in Toronto.

“For sure, she’s the fighter, and she showed even today,” Swiatek said of Haddad Maia. “Fighting until the last ball — it pays off. You have to kind of be ready even when you feel like you’re leading or whatever. You have to play every point 100 percent.”

Swiatek has won last 12 matches at the French Open and she’s never lost one she makes the final four in Paris.

In the early semifinal, Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Muchova are each into their first French Open semifinal. Sabalenka won their only meeting back at 2019 Zhuhai.

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