French Open: Swiatek storms into final with win over Kasatkina

Paris: World No.1 Iga Swiatek defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in just 64 minutes to reach her second French Open final here on Thursday. Swiatek’s winning streak hit 34 after she dispatched No.20 seed Kasatkina. The 2020 French Open champion Swiatek is now tied for the second-longest winning streak of this century with Serena Williams, […]

Paris: World No.1 Iga Swiatek defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in just 64 minutes to reach her second French Open final here on Thursday.

Swiatek’s winning streak hit 34 after she dispatched No.20 seed Kasatkina. The 2020 French Open champion Swiatek is now tied for the second-longest winning streak of this century with Serena Williams, who won 34 consecutive matches between Miami Open and Wimbledon in 2013.

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The 21-year-old Swiatek has also won 54 of her past 56 sets; since the fourth round of Indian Wells, only Liudmila Samsonova and Zheng Qinwen have managed to win a set from the Pole, both in tiebreaks. She also extended her winning streak against Top 20 opposition to 13.

She also extended her head-to-head lead over Kasatkina to 4-1, with all four victories coming this year at the Australian Open, Dubai, Doha and now Paris. Across those matches, Swiatek has conceded only 14 games.

Swiatek now awaits the winner of the second semifinal between No.18 seed Coco Gauff and Martina Trevisan.

Through the first four games, the semifinal was evenly poised. Swiatek had drawn first blood, taking her fourth break point to move up 2-0, but Kasatkina had responded with smart wrong-footing winners and aggressive intent to level at 2-2.

Serving at 2-3, 15-30, Kasatkina was shaping up to hammer away a forehand sitter when a gust of wind caught the ball. The 25-year-old sent the ball way over the baseline.

Minutes later, Swiatek flashed a forehand winner to go up a break again, and she never looked back.

Swiatek tallied 22 winners to 13 unforced errors, taking her total of winners at Roland Garros this year to 140. She landed 70 per cent of her first serves, and won 79 per cent of those points.

Kasatkina found 10 winners, but was undone by 24 unforced errors as she tried to keep pace with Swiatek. The World No.20 had only dropped serve six times in the tournament prior to her Grand Slam semifinal debut, and four of those occasions were in her quarterfinal against Veronika Kudermetova. However, Swiatek punished Kasatkina’s second serve relentlessly, winning 11 of the 14 points returning it, and broke five times in total.

 

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