PARIS: Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek’s French Open reign with a devastating third-set performance on Thursday to tee up a Roland Garros final against Coco Gauff after the American knocked out French hero Lois Boisson.
The Belarusian snapped Swiatek’s French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-0 success to reach her first final in the clay-court Grand Slam.
“Iga is the toughest opponent, especially on the clay and at Roland Garros,” said Sabalenka after becoming the first player to defeat Swiatek in a deciding set at the French Open.
“I’m proud that I was able to get this win.”
World number two Gauff ended the dream run of 361st-ranked wildcard Boisson with a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the second semifinal on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Gauff and Sabalenka are level at 5-5 in their head-to-head record and have won one each of their two meetings at major tournaments.
Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight breaks of serve in a tie-break, before Swiatek hit back to level the match.
The finale turned out to be a complete anti-climax, as Swiatek made 12 unforced errors in the third set and won only six points.
“I’m glad that I found my serve. It was a bit easier with the serve,” added the 27-year-old Sabalenka. “What can I say, 6-0 — it couldn’t be much more perfect than that!“
Sabalenka is targeting a fourth Grand Slam title and first not on hard courts, after winning last year’s US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.
Swiatek has still not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.
She showed signs of a revival on the Paris clay where she has dominated since winning as a teenager in 2020, but her game deserted her in the deciding set as she slipped to only the third French Open defeat of her career.
“I love playing here, so for sure I’m happy that I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here,” Swiatek said.
Sabalenka has now won their last two meetings, and five of 13 in total.
This was the first time the pair, the dominant players in women’s tennis of the past few years, have gone head-to-head at a Grand Slam tournament since Swiatek’s win in the 2022 US Open semifinals en route to the title.
Sabalenka will be the favorite to lift the trophy when she takes on Gauff, to whom she lost in the 2023 US Open final.
Swiatek, who was bidding to become the first woman to win four successive French Opens in over a century, will drop to seventh in the world rankings next week.
Boisson had got the better of third seed Jessica Pegula and world number six Mirra Andreeva in the previous two rounds but the test provided by Gauff proved to be a step too far.
The home crowd were silenced by a ruthless opening set from the second seed.
Boisson briefly raised the French fans from their slumber by breaking back in the second set, only to immediately surrender it straight back.
Gauff clinically finished the job after just 69 minutes on court to book her spot in a second French Open final.
“When you guys were chanting her name, I was thinking my name,” Gauff told the crowd in her on-court interview.
“Obviously there’s still a lot of work to do, but for now I’ll enjoy this one and then prepare for the final tomorrow.”
The 21-year-old suffered an emotional defeat by Swiatek in the 2022 final, but will believe she can finally win the tournament in which she has made at least the quarter-finals in five straight editions.
Boisson had been hoping to become only the second Frenchwoman to win the title in the Open era after Mary Pierce, but went out in a blaze of 33 unforced errors.
“Of course I’m really disappointed today, because obviously I wanted to go further than this semifinal, but I’m just going to take the time to digest this,” said the 22-year-old.
She will climb into the world’s top 70 next week and has added 690,000 euros ($789,536) to her previous career prize money of $148,009.
Sabalenka downs Swiatek as Gauff ends Boisson’s French Open run
https://arab.news/6gxde
Sabalenka downs Swiatek as Gauff ends Boisson’s French Open run
- The Belarusian snapped Swiatek’s French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-0 success to reach her first final in the clay-court Grand Slam
- Gauff and Sabalenka are level at 5-5 in their head-to-head record and have won one each of their two meetings at major tournaments
Israel seeks to demolish West Bank stadium just weeks after UEFA intervention
- In January, a football pitch in the Aida refugee camp was saved, but Israel is now looking to dismantle the Umm Al-Khair Stadium in Masafer Yatta
RIYADH: On Jan. 20, an intervention by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin prevented Israeli forces from taking over the Aida refugee camp football pitch outside Bethlehem, but now Tel Aviv is targeting another arena.
Less than a month later, Israel is threatening to demolish the Umm Al-Khair Stadium in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank.
“UEFA saved one pitch in the West Bank. Israel is demolishing another,” read the cover of Game Over Israel’s latest Instagram post.
The latest move illustrates why this situation is not simply about saving one or two stadiums, but one which critics of Israel argue is designed to encourage settler expansion and make life increasingly difficult for Palestinians.
The Umm Al-Khair stadium in Masafer Yatta serves as a recreational space for children in the village who want nothing more than a safe space to play and take part in sporting activities.
It appears, however, that the well-being of these children comes second to settlement expansion demands. The pro-settler Regavim organization has reportedly claimed that the facility obstructs settlement expansion in the area.
“We received this stop-work order from the Israeli Civil Administration against the playground of Umm Al-Khair,” a resident said in a video distributed by journalist Leyla Hamed.
“If we don’t reply to our lawyers, this playground will be dismantled and demolished by the Israeli army.”
On one level, it may feel like a victory for Ceferin and UEFA to have helped save one pitch. But can it truly be considered progress if every time one stadium is saved another faces demolition?
Ashish Prashar, a former advisor to the Middle East peace envoy and leader of the #GameOverIsrael campaign, said: “You have to know who Israel is ... and Ceferin clearly doesn’t.
“Celebrating and receiving awards for playing a role in the saving of one pitch isn’t the work of justice.
“And it doesn’t protect the lives of Palestinian kids, nor fulfill his obligation as president of UEFA to promote peace, a legal assertion that gives the organization a very advantageous tax status in Switzerland.
“The only solution here is to be a serious person and suspend Israel.”
The so-called war may be over on paper, but until the wider system is addressed, the future of Palestinian football — and the peace surrounding it — remains under serious threat.
