Gauff, Swiatek to meet in French Open semis

PARIS (AP):

COCO GAUFF’S long and successful Tuesday at Roland Garros began when she arrived at about 8:15 a.m. There was a warmup session. A couple of meals. A couple of matches. Oh, and a couple of victories – first, one to reach the singles semifinals, and then one to reach the doubles quarterfinals, which wrapped up a little past 4:30 p.m.

“It goes by really fast, I will say,” the 20-year-old American said. “When you’re playing the match, it just goes by really fast.”

There is more work to be done, and there are more long days on the horizon, for Gauff, who will meet defending champion and number-one-ranked Iga Swiatek in singles tomorrow.

“It’s good to just keep going and not think about this match as something huge – just another match – to not put too much baggage on your shoulders,” Swiatek said. “But I guess Coco is not easy. She really likes playing on clay, especially here. I’ll just focus on myself and I’ll prepare tactically and we’ll see.”

Swiatek picked up yet another lopsided victory, beating Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 and stretching her French Open winning streak to 19 matches as she seeks a third trophy in a row in Paris and her fourth in five years.

“She’s, I feel like, way better than anyone else on clay, and especially here. It’s very tough,” Vondrousova said. “I feel like on the court, you have nothing to maybe offer. She’s just too strong here.”

Number-three Gauff came back to defeat three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semifinals at a third consecutive Grand Slam tournament.

“I’ve been trying to do better at being consistent in the big tournaments,” Gauff said, “and I’m reaching that level of consistency.”

She won her first major title at the US Open in September, then made it to the semifinals at the Australian Open in January. Gauff was runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open in 2022.

Overall, Swiatek has won 10 of 11 meetings against Gauff, including a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win on clay last month en route to the Italian Open title.

“I definitely think I have to find a better way to play her than the last times I played on clay, because I’ve obviously been unsuccessful the last couple of times we’ve played – regardless of the surface and anything,” Gauff said. “She’s definitely a tough opponent for me. And for anybody.”

Other than a tough three-set triumph over Naomi Osaka in the second round, Swiatek has been dominant in this French Open. Take away the 17 games Osaka managed to win, and Swiatek has dropped a total of only 11 games in her other four matches.