The “dream” top half semifinal has been set at the French Open. Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff will meet for a 12th time and for a third straight year at Roland Garros.
Gauff booked her 4th Grand Slam semifinal and third straight in Paris coming from a set down to defeat Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Gauff was a tidy 4-for-5 on break chances while Jabeur 2-for-8. The 20-year-old American finished 21 winners to 28 unforced while Jabeur had 30 winners to 38 unforced. Jabeur, who was looking for her first French semifinal, won just 45% of her second serves.
“I was definitely trying to be more aggressive,” Gauff said. “She was playing really well the whole match and she was hitting a lot of winners on me, which is something I’m not used to against anybody, so today I was just trying to be aggressive towards the end. I got a little bit tight on the last couple of match points but I think I did what I needed to do to win the match.”
Meanwhile, Swiatek continued her ruthless run crushing former finalist Market Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 in just 62 minutes.
“Today it was pretty straightforward,” Swaitek said after. “I’m happy that I kept my focus because sometimes I felt like the game was really intense and sometimes the intensity went down a little bit, so I wanted to really play my game no matter what was coming back from Marketa. I felt like I was in a zone today.”
Swiatek came in off a double bagel win in her last match added a third straight to open the match against the Wimbledon champion and never looked back.
“Honestly, I think everything worked. I feel like I’ve been serving better than in previous rounds, so it gave me an extra boost in confidence,” Swiatek said. “Overall, I felt like I’m playing pretty heavy. I could just play my game and go with my tactics and not really overthink anything.”
The world No. 1 has now won her last 19 matches at the French Open and 17 straight overall. She’s 6-0 once she reaches the French Open semifinals.
Overall, Swiatek leads Gauff 10-1 with wins the last two years at the French Open including the 2022 final. Gauff earned her lone win during her torrid streak last summer in Cincinnati.
“The same as before any other match. You don’t want to change your routines,” Swiatek said of facing Gauff. “It’s good to just keep going and not think about this match as something huge, but just another match to not put too much baggage on your shoulders.
“Against Coco, it’s not easy. She…
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