Iga Swiatek took another step towards defending her French Open crowd as she set up a final against Karolina Muchova.
The world number one is looking to leave Paris with the title for the third time in four years and remains firmly on course to do so, having seen off Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semi-final with a 6-2 7-6 victory.
Swiatek has not dropped a set on her run to the final, though was pushed by her Brazilian opponent before eventually battling through to set up a shot at a fourth Grand Slam win.
After the pair exchanged early breaks in the opening set, Swiatek rattled off four games in a row to put one foot in the final, though she was pegged back early in the second by Haddad Maia.
Once Swiatek got it back on serve at 3-3, there were six straight holds to send it to a tie-break, where Haddad Maia had a set point before the Polish star got the job done with her second match point.
“It’s really amazing,” Swiatek said after the match.
“Honestly It’s tough to play such a long tournament and I’m pretty happy I am able to play consistently and every year have a good result here, and I am pretty excited for Saturday. We’ll see how it’s going to go.”
Swiatek will face Muchova in Saturday’s final, after the 26-year-old downed Aryna Sabalenka in an epic clash.
Australian Open winner Sabalenka was yet to taste defeat in a Grand Slam this year, and was a strong favourite to progress and face Swiatek in the final, as she did in Stuttgart and Madrid earlier in the clay-court season.
Muchova took the first set after a tight tie-break, before Sabalenka levelled in the same fashion to send it to a decider. The world number two looked for all the world to be cruising into the final at 5-2 up, but she was unable to convert a match point on Muchova’s serve and was then broken when serving for it.
A Muchova hold was followed by another break, and she made no mistake as she made it five games in a row to seal her place in a first Grand Slam final, having never previously made it past the third round at Roland Garros.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Muchova said. It’s unbelievable, I tried to keep fighting and it worked. I’m so happy.”
“I’m trying to play my game, I’m glad it worked so well. Thanks to my team, we work on this together so it’s our success.”
