'Dream come true' for teen

PARIS • In six matches at this French Open, no one has come close to finding a solution to Iga Swiatek.

Not the No. 1 seed and former champion Simona Halep, whom the Polish teenager crushed 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round. Not Argentinian qualifier Nadia Podoroska, whom she routed 6-2, 6-1 in a little more than an hour yesterday in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.

Swiatek is just 19 with a surname that many people are still learning to pronounce (try Shvee-ON-tek).

She is playing in only her seventh Grand Slam tournament and has yet to win a tour title, but she has leapt into the tennis stratosphere in a hurry.

"Basically I wanted to play this match as if it would be a first round," she said.

"Because I didn't want to think I was in a semi-final because it would stress me, so I just kept being aggressive like in the previous matches."

No one has won more than four games in a set against her in Paris this year, and although she is unseeded and inexperienced, ranked just 54th, it will be hard not to consider her the favourite when she takes to the court tomorrow for her first Grand Slam singles final against No. 4 seed Sofia Kenin.

This is despite the 21-year-old American, who beat seventh seed and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova 6-4, 7-5 in the later semi-final, having already won this year's Australian Open.

But neither of the Grand Slam champions has consistently hit the same sorts of high notes in the past two weeks as Swiatek, whose compact blend of offence and defence has been irresistible.

"I'm kind of surprised really," said the Pole, who has lost only 23 games in her six matches so far.

"I would have never thought at this tournament I would play so good here, but on the other hand, I always knew if I was going to be in the final of a Grand Slam it would be the French Open. So I'm really happy. It's a dream come true."

Polish woman to reach the final at Roland Garros.

Swiatek, who finished high school earlier this year, is now the youngest player to reach the women's final at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters did it as an 18-year-old in 2001.

She has matched the run of compatriot Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, who finished runner-up at Roland Garros in 1939.

She is also only the second Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open era after Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon in 2012.

On top of that, she becomes the seventh unseeded women's finalist at the French Open. Of the previous six, only Jelena Ostapenko in 2017 went on to lift the trophy.

For now, though, Swiatek is only enjoying the moment before the final tomorrow.

She said: "Sofia is on fire this year. Really, I don't want to think about it right now. I'm just glad I'm in the final. It's overwhelming for me."

For her part, Podoroska, the first women's qualifier to reach the last four here, will rise to a career-best ranking of 48th after the event, having arrived without a single Grand Slam main draw win.

NYTIMES, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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FRENCH OPEN

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