19-year-old
Iga Swiatek will aim to become the only Polish Grand Slam winner in the Open
Era on Saturday when she takes on American Sofia Kenin in the title match at
the Stade Roland Garros in Paris.  

She became
the only Polish woman to reach the Roland Garros final in the Open era when she
dominated Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-1 in their semi-final encounter
on Thursday.

The
unfancied world number 54 is having a dream tournament and is yet to drop a set
over her remarkable run so far, the crowning moment of which came in the fourth
round when she ousted tournament favourite Simona Halep in straight sets.

Before
taking on the top-seeded Romanian, Swiatek knocked out Czech Republic’s Marketa
Vondrousa (16th seed) 6-1, 6-2, Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1, 6-4 and Canadian
Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 in the first three rounds respectively.

She then demolished
Halep, the current world number two and two-time Grand Slam winner, 6-1, 6-2
before securing her semi-final berth with another comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory
over Italian Martina Trevisan in the quarter-final.

Halep, who won the French Open in 2018, was the
frontrunner for the title at the start of the tournament in the absence of
Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and defending champion and world number one Ashleigh
Barty.

But the
topsy-turvy tournament saw only two seeds remain in the last four, Sofia Kenin and
Petra Kvitova, who faced each other in the other semi-final with the world
number six Kenin emerging victorious.

Swiatek became
only the second Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open era since
Agnieszka Radwanska was beaten in the 2012 Wimbledon by Serena Williams.

Jadwiga
Jedrzejowska was the last Polish woman to appear in the French Open final, finishing
runner up in the 1939 edition of the Roland Garros.

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“It seems
unreal. I never thought at the start I would play so good here but I always
knew that if I was going to be in the final of a Grand Slam, it would be at the
French Open,” AFP quoted an elated Swiatek saying after her semi-final win.

The Pole
has conceded only 23 games en route to the final, and has broken her
opponents 32 times, including five times in the semi-final win over Podoroska.

She will
need a repeat of her dominant displays so far if she hopes to overcome Australian
Open champion Kenin in the final, whose tenacity on clay is reflected in her
four-three set wins out of five matches so far.