For world no 1 Iga Swiatek, it is 33 and counting. The Polish teen won her 33rd match in a row with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 11th-seeded Jessica Pegula to advance to the semifinals of the French Open. She will now face Daria Kasatkina of Russia for a spot in the final.
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Kasatkina comes to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Veronika Kudermetova.
Facing Pegula, Swiatek benefited from the chair umpire’s no-call on a double bounce that gave her a key first-set service break. The 21-year-old chased down her opponent’s drop shot but it appeared to have bounced twice before she hit her winner to break and take a 4-3 lead.
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At one point, Pegula complained to the chair umpire about Swiatek’s alleged delaying tactics between serves. But the 2020 French Open winner was way to dominant throughout the game. She compiled 30 winners though she had 28 unforced errors as well. She clinched it on her fourth match point.
In a quarterfinal matchup of 25-year-old Russians, Kasatkina built a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and finally clinched it on her fifth match point, beating Kudermetova with a backhand drop shot.
The 29th-seeded Kudermetova took a medical timeout to have her left foot taped after she held for a 6-5 lead in the second set. But she then lost nine of the next 10 points before her brief comeback in the tiebreaker.
Kasatkina has not dropped a set in her Roland Garros run. She hit only 16 winners but Kudermetova made 50 unforced errors — twice as many as Kasatkina.
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Only Swiatek has previously participated in the final four at a major tournament, losing in the semifinals at the Australian Open in January and taking the title at the 2020 French Open when she was ranked outside the top 50.
“This year it’s a little bit different, because I’m not an underdog,” she said, “and everything has changed, honestly.”
Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, Marin Cilic beat Andy Rublev to march on to the semifinals. He will play the winner of Casper Ruud vs Holger Rune.