The clash of titans at the French Open between Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek has ended with the Belarusian top seed emerging victorious in the semi-final clash, drawing the curtains on the defending champion’s quest to win four consecutive titles in Paris.
Both women came into the semi-final contest on Thursday in ruthless and dominant form – Swiatek on a 26-match winning streak at Roland Garros, and Sabalenka winning 34 of the 39 matches this season before this semi-final in straight sets.
But the match started off like it would not live up to its billing as Sabalenka broke Swiatek twice to go 3-0 up before extending to a 5-1 lead as the defending champion struggled to mount any solid challenge to the world number one’s game.
Sabalenka’s momentum came crashing down as she served for the set, thinking she had aced the serve only for the call to go against her and give Swiatek the much-needed reprieve to stage a stunning comeback in the set.
The Polish star would win the next four games to level the contest at 5-5 before Sabalenka regained her composure to break the fifth seed’s serve and retake the lead. Swiatek broke right back to force a tie-breaker which went in Sabalenka’s favour to wrap up the first set.
Encouraged by the comeback despite falling short in the first set, Swiatek maintained her momentum in the second and broke the top seed’s serve before holding her nerve to take the set and send the match to the decider.
While the first two sets were close contests that lived up to the pre-match hype, Sabalenka was in no mood to please as the 27-year-old broke Swiatek to go 2-0 up, then went on to break the Pole’s serve again and seize control of the set which she saw off to seal a 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 victory.
The win gives Sabalenka her first final appearance at Roland Garros, a fifth grand slam final in the last six slams, and makes the top seed the first player to reach the final at three consecutive major tournaments since Serena Williams achieved the feat back in 2016.
Next up for the three-time major winner is the victor of the second semi-final on Thursday between Coco Gauff and homegirl, Lois Boisson, who is set to be backed by a partisan French crowd to continue her giant-killing run in Paris.