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And then there were two.
Recently-turned 21-year-old Iga Swiatek and teenage sensation Coco Gauff have swept all before them and therefore earned the right to face off for the championship in Saturday night’s (AEST) French Open women’s final.
Ever since Ashleigh Barty announced her shock retirement from the sport in March, Swiatek has become the hottest player on Tour, having not lost a match for nearly four months as well as assuming the top ranking from the Australian at the start of April.
Among her titles this year include the Sunshine Double at Indian Wells and Miami, while she also claimed titles on the clay courts of Stuttgart and Rome, on either side of taking a break during the week of the Madrid Open.
She arrived at Roland Garros having won 28 consecutive matches, the longest by any player on the women’s tour since Serena Williams won 34 in a row during her dominant 2013 season which seems like a distant age ago.
The Pole reinforced her status as the title favourite by tearing through five of her six lead-up matches in straight sets, the only scare coming in the fourth round when she dropped the first set in a tiebreak against Chinese player Zheng Qinwen.
By winning her semi-final against Daria Kasatkina in straight sets, Swiatek equalled that record, and now has the chance to equal the longest winning streak by any woman this century (Venus Williams’ 35 in 2000) with a win in Saturday’s French Open final.
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Though she dropped only one set en route to her second final at Roland Garros, it will not come easy against American teen sensation Coco Gauff, who has qualified for her first major final without dropping a set.
From beating Venus Williams (who, at the time, was two-and-a-half times her age) at age 15 at Wimbledon in 2019, Gauff was always destined for big things, and now nearly three years on will be contesting her first major final having turned 18 back in March.
She is the youngest major finalist since Maria Sharapova stunned Serena Williams to win the first of her five major titles at Wimbledon in 2004, though Emma Raducanu was two months short of turning 19 when she won the US Open last September.
En route to the final, Gauff has beaten several seasoned veterans, including Kaia Kanepi, who is twice her age, as well as former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in an all-American intergenerational match in the quarters.
She then displayed maturity beyond her years to dismiss Italian Martina Trevisan in the semis, and will go in with a nothing-to-lose attitude as she looks to prove that the future of American tennis will be bright when both the Williams sisters enter retirement.
It will be just the third meeting between the pair with both won by Iga Swiatek, the most recent in the round of 16 at the Miami Open which the 21-year-old Pole went on to win.
Now that you’ve got all the inside info, it’s time to crunch the all-important numbers below.
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [18] Coco Gauff (USA)
Saturday, June 4, 3:00pm local (11:00pm AEST)
Court Philippe Chatrier
Head to head
All matches: Swiatek 2-0
At the Majors: first meeting
Last meeting: Swiatek won 6-3, 6-1, fourth round, 2022 Miami Open.
Iga Swiatek’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-2, 6-0
Round 2: defeated Alison Riske (USA) 6-0, 6-2
Round 3: defeated Danka Kovinic (MNE) 6-3, 7-5
Round 4: defeated Zheng Qinwen (CHN) 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-2
Quarter-final: defeated [11] Jessica Pegula (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Semi-final: defeated [20] Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1
Coco Gauff’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Rebecca Marino (CAN) 7-5, 6-0
Round 2: defeated Alison van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
Round 3: defeated Kaia Kanepi (EST) 6-3, 6-4
Round 4: defeated [31] Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-4, 6-0
Quarter-final: defeated Sloane Stephens (USA) 7-5, 6-2
Semi-final: defeated Martina Trevisan (ITA) 6-3, 6-1
The stats that matter
* This is Iga Swiatek’s second major final, and also her second at Roland Garros, while this is Coco Gauff’s first major final. This is their first meeting at a major, and in a final.
* Swiatek is aiming to win her second major title from as many attempts, having also won at the French Open in 2020.
* She is aiming to become the first top seed to win here since Simona Halep in 2018, and the second consecutive top seed to win a Major after the since-retired Ash Barty did so at the Australian Open earlier this year.
* Gauff is the youngest major finalist since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004, and the youngest at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters in 2001. A win would see her become the youngest major champion since Sharapova 18 years ago, and youngest at Roland Garros since Swiatek in 2020.
* Gauff is the eighth active American female player to reach a major final, after the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin, Jennifer Brady and Danielle Collins. She is aiming to become the fifth of the bunch to win a title.
* This is the second major final this year to feature an American player, after Collins reached the final of the Australian Open in January (lost to Ashleigh Barty).
* This is the second Poland versus USA French Open final, after Swiatek defeated Kenin in the rescheduled 2020 event.
Prediction: Iga Swiatek in straight sets.
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