agencies
Posted on: Friday, June 3, 2022 – 11:24 AM | Last update: Friday 3 June 2022 – 11:24 AM
The Polish world number one Iga Swientek reached her second final in Roland Garros, France, the second of the Grand Slam, after her easy victory Thursday over 20th seed Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 6-1, to face the young American Coco Gauff, who crossed the Italian Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-1.
The 21-year-old Polish, who won at Roland Garros in 2020, raised her beautiful streak to 34 matches without losing, with an easy victory at Stade Philippe Chatrier in an hour and 4 minutes.
Šviontik will equal the American series Venus Williams, the longest in the third millennium (35 consecutive wins), if it defeats the winner in the final between American Coco Gauff (23) and Italian Martina Trevisan (59).
“I’m so grateful,” she said after her victory. “It’s easy to play with such great support. It’s amazing how much encouragement I got this week.”
Šviontik has won five consecutive titles this year, including four in the WTA Championships.
Sviontik dominates women’s tennis this season, especially after the sudden retirement of former world number one Ashleigh Barty.
Kasatkina won the first match with Švientek on Eastbourne grass last year, but lost to it in the last four matches in 2022 with clean sets, without winning more than five games in one match.
Švientek hit 22 winning balls, to continue her successful career in the current edition, which saw her losing a single set to the young Chinese Zheng Kenwen in the tiebreak “Tai Break” in the fourth round.
On the other hand, Kasatkina, 25, who was playing the first major semi-final of her career, committed 24 direct errors.
After a strong start for the Polish, the two players retreated and exchanged breaks. But the Russian suffered a lot in the face of strong kicks by Shviontik, who was late 2-4, wasting an easy ball in front of the net.
Šviontik won the set seven minutes later, 6-2. In the second, the Russian was satisfied with one game, as she was late 1-3, before Shviontik seized the match and booked the first two tickets to the final.
– Inside a difficult opponent –
Shortly after that, Gauff, ranked 23 in the world, joined Schwentek to play her first Grand Slam final.
Gauff, 18, crossed the account of Trevisan (59 in the world) after a match that lasted one hour and 28 minutes, becoming the American’s youngest player to reach the final on clay since Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in 2001, and the youngest in a major tournament final since Russia’s Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004.
The two players were trying to reach their first major final.
Goff, 18, finally graduated from school and managed to beat an opponent 10 years older than her. Trevisan was the first Italian to reach the semi-finals in Paris since Sara Irani in 2013. Trevisan’s best Grand Slam result was reaching the quarter-finals at Pace in 2020.
Gauff and Trevisan had met once, when the Italian surprised her American rival in the second round of Roland Garros two years ago on her way to achieving the surprise by reaching the quarter-finals after qualifying from the qualifiers.
Gauff’s career had stopped at the quarter-finals last year in Paris against the defending Czech Barbora Kraichikova, before she finally succeeded in her quest without losing any group so far this year in the French capital.
“I think I’m a little bit in shock right now,” Gauff said after the match. “I didn’t know what to do after the match. I’m lost for words.”
The two players committed 37 direct errors between them in a bad first set, before Gough won the match in the second set.
Goff will be a tough teenage opponent for Saturday’s chiffontech. But the American has nothing to lose because she will try to become the youngest Grand Slam winner, since Sharapova surprised Serena Williams in London 18 years ago.
“I’m going into it (the final) like any other match,” Gauff said. “Yes, it’s a Grand Slam final but there’s a lot of things going on in the world right now, especially in the United States, so I don’t think it’s worth stressing about it.”