Paolini Stands between Swiatek and Third Straight Roland Garros Title

Iga Swiatek continued her dominance over Coco Gauff to reach the French Open final and move closer to a third straight title at Roland Garros.

World number one Swiatek will face Italian 12th seed Jasmine Paolini in today’s final.

Poland’s Swiatek, 23, broke Gauff in the first game of the match and, apart from briefly losing serve in the second set, retained control to win 6-2 6-4.

Third seed Gauff saved three match points before Swiatek closed out victory.

The 20-year-old American has now lost 11 of her 12 matches against the world number one.

“It was intense, especially in the second set but I’m happy,” said Swiatek.

“I stuck with my tactics, didn’t overthink things and just went for it.”

Paolini, 28, beat unseeded 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva 6-3 6-1 in the second semi-final on Thursday.

Whatever happened between Swiatek and Gauff, the pair were still going to leave Roland Garros as the leading two women’s players in the world rankings.

But the outcome again illustrated the gulf between them when they face each other.

US Open champion Gauff talked bullishly after beating three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur in the quarter-finals, saying she had “nothing to lose” and claimed the pressure was on Swiatek.

That is not how it panned out. Gauff looked overcome by nerves from the start and paid the price.

Trying to land heavily with her forehand in the rallies did not come off, with a stream of errors from that side doing a lot of the work for Swiatek.

Gauff made 18 unforced errors in a first set where Swiatek only needed to hit two winners and the American’s body language showed she was feeling the pressure.

After going for a bathroom break to gather her thoughts, Gauff had to dig deep to hold serve at the start of the second set before a row with umpire Aurelie Tourte over a line call sparked her into life.

An emotional Gauff appeared to wipe away tears between points in the next game – but the energy fuelled her into breaking Swiatek’s serve for a 3-1 lead.

However, Gauff could not consolidate and, although she showed more resistance towards the end, she has more problem-solving to do about how to end Swiatek’s hex.