Iga Swatik continued her run to her second French Open title in three years when she defeated Russia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-1 to reach the final and tied Serena Williams for the second longest winning streak of the century.
Swiatek’s 34th straight win earned her one win from her second Roland Garros title and rival Venus Williams for the longest streak on the Tour since 2000.
Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, has not lost since February and has only lost two sets in her past four tournaments.
The world number one took an early break on Thursday, but from 2-2 in the opening match, Swiatek lost just three points in the remainder of the first set, using her heavy forehand hitting, quick hitting ability and all-court distinction to sixteen control. Play five games. Then she won the final nine points and took victory with just a header out of the 64-minute match.
The 20th seed Kasatkina, a semi-finalist for the first time in a Grand Slam, had two career wins over the first-place players but made 24 unforced errors against Swiatek’s 13. Swiatek finished with 22 winners, more than double Kasatkina’s 10.
She will meet American teenage 18th seed Coco Gauff or Italian Martina Trevisan in Saturday’s final. With the win, Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, became only the fourth woman in the Open era (since 1968) to win multiple French Open titles at age 21 or younger, joining Monica Seles (who has won three) and Stevie Graf. Chris Evert.
Swiatek played again with a ribbon in the colors of the Ukrainian flag attached to her hat as she faced off against her Russian opponent. Swiatek has improved to 41-3 this season, with four wins against Kasatkina.
She has now won her past 13 competitions against her top 20 opponents in the WTA rankings, dropping one set along the way.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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