Swiatek goes for three-peat

World No. 1 beats Gauff in straight sets to book final versus Paolini

- HOWARD FENDRICH

Poland's Iga Swiatek continued her dominance over Coco Gauff — improving to 11-1 head to head — beating her 6-2, 6-4 in Thursday’s semifinal. Swiatek is 4-0 in major finals, including the 2020, 2022 and 2023 French Opens.

Iga Swiatek is as good as it gets in tennis at the moment, especially at the French Open. She’s been that way for quite some time. So her unyielding success against Coco Gauff just about everywhere — and certainly at Roland Garros — should come as no surprise by now.

Swiatek continued her dominance over Gauff and extended her winning streak in Paris to 20 matches with a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the semifinals Thursday.

“For sure, it was intense,” said the No. 1-ranked Swiatek, who claimed five of the last six games after trailing 3-1 in the second set. “I’m happy that I just was consistent with my tactics and didn’t overthink stuff and just went for it at the end.”

Swiatek will face No. 12 Jasmine Paolini of Italy in Saturday’s title match, Paolini beat unseeded 17year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia 6-3, 6-1 in the second semifinal.