Iga Swiatek moved into her second French Open final on Thursday with a straight sets win over the 20th seed Daria Kasatkina
The 6-2, 6-1 scoreline reflected the gulf in temperament and confidence between the 21-year-old Pole and the 25-year-old Russian.
Swiatek, who entered the match on the back of 33 straight victories, broke first to lead 2-0 but Kasatkina hit back straight away to level at 2-2 after 20 minutes. A sign that she would not be blown away.
But that was false dawn. Sixteen minutes later, Swiatek was a set up after a four-game roll in which she sprayed winners from both flanks.
Chance
Kasatkina’s solace came in the fact that it was only the first set.
Swiatek opened the second set with a confident hold. Kasatkina responded with a gutsy service game to end the five game surge and level at 1-1.
But it was the end of the affair really. Swiatek fashioned three consecutive break points in the fourth game and an impatient forehand from Kasatkina gave Swiatek a 3-1 lead after 54 minutes.
It was 4-1 four minutes later. And when Kasatkina lost the first two points of her next service game, the crowd tried to rally her.
To no avail. Swiatek simply won the next point for three break points.
And the world knew what was coming next when the first service went long.
The second serve was slapped away dismissively for a clean winner to give Swiatek the chance to serve for the tie.
She advanced without losing a point.
"It's a pretty special moment," said Swiatek after her 34th consecutive win.
"I'm so grateful to be healthy and playing here."
Swiatek will play the winner of the match between the 18th seed Coco Gauff and the unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan who are both contesting their first semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament.
