By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
World no. 1 ranked female tennis player Iga Swiatek continued her dominant run in the ongoing French Open after sweeping Coco Gauff- 6.2, 6.4- to reach the grand final round on June 6, 2024, in Paris, France.
With the dominant victory, the Polish tennis superstar will have the chance to clinch her fifth overall Grand Slam championship title today, when she squares off against Jasmine Paolini for the French Open trophy.
Swiatek had a spectacular winning streak entering her semifinal matchup with Gauff after sweeping her last three opponents starting from the third round of the tournament.
Despite the commanding path, Swiatek didn’t relax against Gauff and turned on the jets as early as the opening set as she only held the American ace to just two set points.
Swiatek kicked off her lopsided win with two straight break points, disrupting Gauff’s normal flow with her all-out attack from the baseline and the net ara.
Gauff attempted to switch gears midway through the opening frame when her service possessions got broken by targeting Swiatek’s backhand side but the strategy didn’t work as the Polish star proved to be too much from both ends of the clay court.
After a service possession hold and another break, Swiatek cruised to a walk-in-the-park win in the opening frame to secure the momentum-boosting 1-0 lead.
Searching for answers to regain footing, Gauff started the following set with several aggressive down-the-line winners but Swiatek always had quick answers as she fired back with more groundstroke power winners.
Swiatek then capped off her semifinal win with back-to-back booming top-spin forehand winners while holding her service possession to complete the stunning sweep.
