PARIS (AFP) - Women's world No. 1 Iga Swiatek cruised into the final of the French Open, swatting aside Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in Thursday's (June 2) last-four clash.
It was the Pole's 34th straight victory. The 2020 Roland Garros champion will face Coco Gauff, who beat Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 in the other semi-final - in Saturday's showpiece match.
“I’m so grateful. It’s easier to play matches with this kind of support,” Swiatek, who won 10 of the last 11 games, said in her on-court interview.
“It’s surprising this week how much they’re supporting me.
“I try to treat every match in the same way because when I think about how it’s the biggest match of the season so far, it stresses me out.”
Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, has climbed from world No. 7 to the top of the rankings on the back of a remarkable unbeaten run which has seen her win five successive tournaments, including four WTA 1,000 titles.
Kasatkina won her first clash with Swiatek on the Eastbourne grass last year, but has now lost all four of their meetings in 2022 in straight sets, without winning more than five games in a match.
Three of those defeats came on hard courts at the Australian Open and in Dubai and Doha.
Gauff, who will be playing in her first women's singles final at a Grand Slam, also became the youngest French Open finalist in 21 years.
“I am a little bit in shock right. I have no words to describe how I fee right now,” Gauff said in an on-court interview. “Honestly, I wasn’t nervous going in today which is a surprise.
“The only time I get a bit nervous is in the morning. I go for a walk and that clears my head.”
Gauff, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament and is the youngest finalist at any Grand Slam in 18 years, needed time to find her range, trading two early breaks each with Trevisan.
Once she found a way to neutralise the left-hander’s punishing forehand, however, Gauff breezed through the first set by winning the last three games.
“I had to be more patient,” Gauff said. “Being American I grew up hitting like this and hitting hard and I had to remind myself this is not the one to attack.
“I played her two years ago I and I lost against her and I know how difficult it is to play against her,” she said,
