Roland Garros 2024 Women’s Day 10

Untouchable Iga Swiatek delivered another French Open beatdown on Tuesday, losing just two games against fellow reigning Grand Slam champion Marketa Vondrousova to advance to the semi-finals.

The defending champion ole who claimed the first of her four career titles at the majors here in Paris, 2020, will on Thursday take on Coco Gauff for a spot in Saturday’s final at Roland Garros.

Swiatek’s 6-0, 6-2 hammering of Wimbledon winner Vondrousova took just 62 minutes, with the outclassed Czech finally winning a game at the 37-minute mark.

Victory was Swiatek’s 17th in a row on clay, leaving her one short of levelling her all-time clay streak from 2022.

The world No. 1, bidding for a fourth Paris trophy, was all but unchallenged on her way to the win on her first match point.

“I was in the zone,” she said, “Everything in my game was working. I also served better than in previous matches.”

The victory was two days removed from her 6-0, 6-0 “double bagel” win over Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round.

“I played pretty heavy today and stuck with my tactics and didn’t over-think anything,” Swiatek said. 

“It was pretty straightforward today.”

Gauff booked her spot with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 fightback over Ons Jabeur.

Gauf and Swiatek played the 2023 Paris final and met in the quarters last year.

“I’ll prepare for it the same as any other match,” Swiatek said. “You don’t want to change your routine or think of it as something huge.

“Coco will not be easy, she likes clay and has played well here. I’ll focus on myself in preparation and we’ll see.”

Against Jabeur, Gauf got on the back foot as her treble Grand Slam finalist opponent won the opening set.

But the 20-year-old American third seed said that only inspired her to lift her game: “I was trying to be more aggressive. Ons was playing well and sending a lot of winners past me, which I’m not used to.

“But I held on towards the end even if I got a bit tight on a couple of match points. I did what I needed to do to win the match.”

The US Open champion will play in her fourth Grand Slam semi-final and third in a row.

The winner said that while she felt the majority of the crowd was cheering her French-speaking eighth-seeded opponent from Tunisia, “there were a couple of people behind my box who I could hear supporting me.”

She added: “I was having fun even if I lost the first set.”

Gauff has had three consecutive close calls at Roland Garros, losing to the eventual champion – Barbora Krejcikova (2021) and Swiatek in 2022 and 2023.

The loss dropped Jabeur to 1-5 versus US players this season.

“Quarter-finals is not bad. I’ll take it,” Jabeur said. “Clay demands a lot of physical strength for sure.

“I felt good,  but I’ll try to get better, try to manage the pressure and the stress.

“I just love this tournament, and I really enjoy playing here.”

Main photo:- Iga Swiatek completing her 17 match winning streak by Roger Parker Interational Sports Fotos