PARIS — Coco Gauff and defending champion Iga Swiatek will meet in the French Open semifinals after victories Tuesday.
No. 3 seed Gauff came back to defeat Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final four at a third consecutive Grand Slam tournament. No. 1 Swiatek followed in Court Philippe Chatrier with a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to stretch her Roland Garros winning streak to 19 matches as she seeks a third trophy in a row in Paris and fourth in five years.
Gauff won her first major title at the 2023 US Open, then made it to the final four at the Australian Open in January. The 20-year-old American was the runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open in 2022.
“It’s good to just keep going and not think about this match as something huge — just another match — to not put too much baggage on your shoulders,” Swiatek said. “But I guess Coco is not easy. She really likes playing on clay, especially here. I’ll just focus on myself and I’ll prepare tactically and we’ll see.”
Overall, Swiatek has won 10 of 11 meetings against Gauff, including a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win on clay last month en route to the Italian Open title.
Other than a tough, tight three-set triumph over four-time major champion Naomi Osaka in the second round last week, Swiatek has been at her dominant best in this French Open, showing why she has led the WTA rankings nearly every week since April 2022 and is a popular pick to leave with another title.
Take away the 17 games Osaka won, and Swiatek has dropped a total of only 11 games in her other four matches so far.
Swiatek followed up her 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round by grabbing the initial seven games against Vondrousova.
“I felt,” Swiatek said, “like I was in the zone.”
And make no mistake: Vondrousova is no slouch. In addition to being a Grand Slam champion, she was a finalist at Roland Garros in 2019, won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is ranked No. 6.
But she never stood a chance against Swiatek, who compiled 25 winners to just 10 unforced errors. Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland, faced just one break point — and, naturally, she saved it.
“Everything worked. I feel like I’ve been serving better than in previous rounds, so that gave me an extra boost of confidence,” Swiatek said. “I…
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