The Japan Times - Sabalenka dethrones Swiatek to reach first French Open final

The Belarusian snapped Swiatek's French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-0 success and will face either second seed Coco Gauff or French surprise hero Lois Boisson on Saturday for the title.

"It feels incredible but also I understand that the job is not done yet. I'm just thrilled with the performance today," said the 27-year-old.

"What can I say, 6-0 - it couldn't be much more perfect than that!"

Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight breaks of serve in a tie-break, before Swiatek hit back to level the match.

The finale turned out to be a complete anti-climax, as Swiatek made 12 unforced errors in the third set and won only six points.

Sabalenka is targeting a fourth Grand Slam title and first not on hard courts, after winning last year's US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.

Swiatek has still not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.

She showed signs of a revival on the Paris clay where she has dominated since lifting the title as a teenager in 2020, but her game deserted her in the deciding set as she slipped to only the third French Open defeat of her career.

Sabalenka has now won their last two meetings, and five of 13 in total.

This was the first time the pair, the dominant players in women's tennis of the past few years, have gone head-to-head at a Grand Slam tournament since Swiatek's win in the 2022 US Open semi-finals en route to the title.

Sabalenka will be a strong favourite to lift the trophy when she takes on either Gauff, who she lost to in the 2023 US Open final, or world number 361 Boisson.

- Sabalenka's strong start -

Sabalenka roared out of the blocks as Swiatek double-faulted to give up a break in the very first game.

The top seed quickly built a 3-0 lead with a double-break, as Swiatek mustered only four points in the opening exchanges.

But Sabalenka's hold in game two proved to be the only one until Swiatek cut the gap to 4-3 to stay within touching distance, before making it four successive games to edge in front.

Sabalenka did manage to create a chance to serve out the set, but unsurprisingly, Swiatek broke again to force a tie-break as the Belarusian lashed a groundstroke long.

The three-time Grand Slam champion finally got the first set on the board, though, blasting through the tie-break as Swiatek eventually cracked.

The breaks of serve kept coming in the second set, until Swiatek managed to hold for a 3-1 advantage.

The pair belatedly stabilised behind their serves, albeit too late for Sabalenka in the second set as Swiatek held to love to force a decider.

The four-time champion had never lost a three-set match at the French Open, but found herself sliding towards defeat as she slipped 2-0 behind in the third.

Swiatek, who has built a reputation for dishing out bagels, then wilted under the pressure in a disappointing final set that lasted just 22 minutes.

T.Sasaki--JT