Paris : American teenager Coco Gauff reached her first Grand Slam singles final with victory in the French Open last four, setting up a tantalising meeting with world number one Iga Swiatek.
Gauff, 18, won 6-3 6-1 against unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan on the Paris clay in her maiden major semi- final. Swiatek, 21, completed a serene journey into the Roland Garros final with a 6-2 6-1 win over 20th seed Daria Kasatkina.
The Pole earned a 34th successive win to move into her second major final. Swiatek, the 2020 Roland Garros champion, has dropped just one set this fortnight on the Paris clay. It is a pretty special moment and emotional, said Swiatek, who meets Gauff on Saturday. I am grateful to be healthy and in that place.
Gauff, seeded 18th, was the heavy favourite against Trevisan and has become the youngest finalist at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters in 2001. I think I’m in a bit of shock right now and I didn’t know how to react at the end of the match, Gauff said.
I have no words to describe how I feel. Not since Serena Williams in her prime has there been as strong a favourite for a Grand Slam women’s singles title as Swiatek. In a stunning start to 2022, the Polish player has won five consecutive tournaments – in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome – and taken over as the WTA world number one following Ashleigh Barty’s surprise retirement.
Rohan Bopanna/Matwe Middelkoop suffered a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10) defeat against Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien in men’s doubles semi-final. The Indo-Dutch pair won the first set in 36 minutes but Arevalo and Roger took the second one 6-3.
The third set eventually went into a tiebreaker where Bopanna and Middelkoop saved two match points but eventually lost the semi-final tie. Bopanna had earlier reached his first Grand Slam semifinal in seven years after he and Middelkoop beat Lloyd Glasspool and Henri Heliovaara in the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the French Open.
Bopanna and Middelkoop recorded a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (3) win over the British-Finnish pair on Monday night. In the hard-fought contest, the Indo-Dutch duo put up a stellar display after losing the opening set. Bopanna and Middelkopp won the next two sets and held nerves in the decider to fight back from 3-5 down to take the match to a Super Tie-break.
They were again 0-3 behind but won 10 straight points to come up trumps. Bopanna had last reached the semifinals of a tennis Major at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, with Romania’s Florin Mergea as his partner.