Iga Swiatek cruised into the French Open semi-finals with victory over Jessica Pegula as the world number one continued her incredible winning run.
It’s now 33 consecutive victories for Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, with that streak taking her to five titles and it never looked like coming to an end against American Pegula.
The pair exchanged breaks in the opening two games of the match but Pegula was unable to make a dent in the Swiatek serve from that point onwards as the top seed got the job done on her fourth match point in a 6-3 6-2 win.
The Pole arrived in Paris as a heavy favourite for the tournament she won back in 2020 and she remains well on track to crown her dominance at the top of the sport with a second Grand Slam title.
“She was changing her rhythm but I played with good dynamics so I was able to push her back a little bit,” Swiatek said.
“Today is warmer so the ball is flying a bit faster and I had to adjust to that for sure, especially with her really flat game. The atmosphere is great. I’m pretty happy I can play here and I had so many matches because it’s always a great experience on Philippe Chatrier.
“It’s always nervous but sometimes stress is a positive thing that can make you more active, more tense, so I try to use it.”
Swiatek will face Daria Kasatkina in the last four after the 20th seed booked her place in a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time with victory over Veronika Kudermetova.
Kasatkina arrived at Roland Garros having not made it past the third round of a Slam for four years but she is yet to drop a set in the tournament as she continued that run with a 6-4 7-6 victory.
The 25-year-old moved 6-1 up in the tie-break to give herself five match points and she needed all of them as Kudermetova won four points in a row to put the pressure on, before a drop shot saw Kasatkina seal the win.
