French Open 2024 results: Iga Swiatek beats Coco Gauff to reach Roland Garros final against Jasmine Paolini

Iga Swiatek maintained her superior performance against Coco Gauff and made it to the final of the French Open, bringing her closer to her third consecutive victory at Roland Garros.

Polish tennis player, Swiatek who holds the top spot in the world rankings, is set to compete against Italian competitor, Paolini who is seeded 12th, in the final match taking place on Saturday.

Gauff had a rough start against Swiatek, a 23-year-old tennis player from Poland. Swiatek managed to break Gauff's serve in the first game of their match and kept a tight grip on the game until she momentarily lost serve in the second set. However, she quickly regained control and won the match with a final score of 6-2 6-4.

Gauff, who was seeded third, was able to avoid losing the match three times before Swiatek won.

The American who is 20 years old has been defeated in 11 out of 12 games by the top-ranked player in the world.

Swiatek expressed her satisfaction by stating that the game was quite thrilling, particularly in the second set.

"I remained steadfast in my approach, avoided excessive analysis and proceeded confidently."

On Thursday, Paolini, who is 28 years old, won her second semi-final match by defeating the 17-year-old Russian player, Mirra Andreeva, with a score of 6-3 6-1. Andreeva was not seeded in the tournament.

No matter what went down between Swiatek and Gauff, they would still depart from Roland Garros as the top two female players in the global rankings.

However, the result once more demonstrated the large difference between them when they confront each other.

Gauff, the US Open champion, expressed confidence after defeating Ons Jabeur, a three-time major finalist, in the quarter-finals. She stated that she had no fear of losing and believed that Swiatek was under more pressure than her.

It didn't happen that way. Gauff appeared to be tremendously nervous right from the beginning and faced the consequences of it.

Attempting to execute forceful forehand shots during the rallies proved to be unsuccessful, as numerous mistakes from that particular side greatly aided Swiatek.

In the initial set, Gauff committed 18 mistakes without any pressure from Swiatek who only managed to make two winning shots. Gauff displayed her unease through her body language.

Following a quick stop at the restroom to reflect, Gauff was required to make a great effort to maintain her serve at the beginning of the second set. However, a disagreement with umpire Aurelie Tourte concerning a line call pushed her to perform better.

Gauff, who was full of emotions, seemed to dry her tears while taking a short break before continuing to play. However, her energy seemed to increase, as she successfully managed to break Swiatek's serve, leading the game with a score of 3-1.

Nevertheless, Gauff was unable to strengthen her position, and despite putting up more resistance towards the conclusion, she needs to work on solving the puzzle of defeating Swiatek.

Before the tournament, there was a question lingering around if anyone had the capability to prevent Swiatek from winning three consecutive French Open titles, which only two women had achieved before.

Her goal is to become one of the few female athletes to accomplish this feat during the Open era, alongside Monica Seles (1990-1992) and Justine Henin (2005-2007).

Naomi Osaka, a previous top-ranked tennis player, was the only one who nearly prevented her from winning. This is because Osaka did not have much experience playing on clay and has only won four major tournaments on hard courts.

Swiatek has significantly improved her game since the intense second-round match, where she was able to save a crucial match point and ultimately win in three sets.

In the fourth round, she completely dominated Anastasia Potapova without losing a single game in just 40 minutes. The quarter-finals were also easily handled by her as she quickly defeated 2019 finalist Marketa Vondrousova.

Paolini is now the last player standing between Swiatek and her goal of winning her first major singles final, thanks to her impressive display against Andreeva.

The Italian player who started off slow has recently been making waves at Roland Garros, adding to the multiple career achievements she has accomplished this season.

Before this year, Paolini had never made it past the second round in Paris, but she has now proven herself by winning her first WTA 1,000 title in Dubai and defeating several well-known top-20 players.

Having defeated the third-seeded player Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals, she persisted in utilizing her dominating forehand to provoke errors from Andreeva, who is ranked as the 38th player.

The young person, who became the youngest semi-finalist in a Grand Slam tournament since Martina Hingis in the 1997 US Open, showed signs of strong emotions as the second set slipped out of their control.

Paolini expressed that he might have learned later than some other players, but having the ability to dream is vital for success in sports and life. He feels content that he was able to envision and achieve this moment, especially since he managed to conquer the last five games of the match.