The French Open women’s singles semi-finals take centre stage at Roland Garros on Thursday, when world number one Aryna Sabalenka meets four-times champion Iga Swiatek in a match worthy of a title clash.
In the other last-four encounter, wildcard Lois Boisson will look to continue her inspired run on home soil when she plays 2022 runner-up Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka, Swiatek set for blockbuster
Belarusian Sabalenka has been the poster girl for Grand Slam consistency in the last few years, storming into the semi-finals in nine of the last 10 majors she has competed in to emerge as a genuine threat to Swiatek’s supremacy on Parisian clay.
The 27-year-old top seed’s growing composure and mental fortitude on the biggest stage means that the wobbles she once experienced have become distant memories, while her retooled serve and power can blow away opponents on any surface.
She has harnessed all those qualities during her run to the last four without conceding a set, dismantling Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6(3) 6-3 in the last round.
Swiatek, who is on a 26-match winning run at the French Open, represents the biggest test in Sabalenka’s bid to win a maiden Roland Garros title and add more silverware to her trophy cabinet that contains U.S. and Australian Open crowns.
Having locked down the top ranking since April 2022, the duo renew their rivalry having become a little closer after making a TikTok video at last year’s season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh and practising together thereafter.
“Before, there wasn’t any communication or any practice with her, but now we’re getting better. We get along and we practise more often. We know each other well,” Sabalenka said.
“We’ve had a lot of great battles in the past … I’m super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win.”
Gulf in class on clay
Fifth seed Swiatek leads the overall head-to-head record with Sabalenka at 8-4 but the gulf in class on clay is a little more evident at 5-1 in favour of the 24-year-old.
Having moved on from a distracting doping case for which she served a month-long ban last year, Swiatek has had to fight hard at her favourite hunting ground this year to beat Elena Rybakina in three sets before overcoming Elina Svitolina last time out.
Swiatek may need to call upon that battling mentality again when she faces a hungry Sabalenka, whose only claycourt victory over the reigning Paris champion came in the 2023 Madrid final.
“I know what I’m fighting about and I know that my game is somewhere there even when the moment is tough. At Roland Garros I should always push until the end and fight for everything … I maybe believe it a bit more,” Swiatek said.
“I don’t know if she elevates my game. Against every player, we play a different way so it’s hard to compare. But our rivalry is pushing both of us.”
Gauff faces boisson, French crowd
American second seed Coco Gauff will be up against not just a plucky Boisson but the partisan French crowd as well when the 2022 runner-up takes on the wildcard in the other semi-final, hoping to take a step towards a second major title.
“I’ve been in crowds where they’re 99% for me, so I don’t have an issue with it. I hope everyone will be respectful and things. If not, it’s cool,” Gauff said before the 361st-ranked Boisson stunned sixth seed Mirra Andreeva.
“It makes sports exciting and I can’t get irritated at the fact that someone’s rooting for their hometown hero, because I would do the same. It’s something I’ll mentally prepare for if it were to happen and expect and be ready for.”
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