Three-time Roland Garros champion and world’s top tennis player Iga Świątek will compete in her fourth Paris final against Italian Jasmine Paolini, a 28-year-old debutant in a Grand Slam title match. Świątek won the first semifinal in 97 minutes, defeating American Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4, handing Gauff her 11th loss in their 12 encounters. Paolini was even more dominant, defeating 17-year-old Russian Mira Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in just 73 minutes.
For the 23-year-old Pole, this was her 18th consecutive victory in her last three tournaments this season and her 20th straight win at Roland Garros, where she was last defeated in the 2021 quarterfinals. On Saturday, she will aim for her third consecutive Paris title and her fifth Grand Slam trophy overall.
Paolini’s Big Surprise
In contrast, Jasmine Paolini is a player who, until this year, had never progressed beyond the second round of a Grand Slam tournament. On Saturday, she will become the third Italian woman to compete for the Suzanne Lenglen trophy, which Francesca Schiavone won in 2010. Schiavone lost in the final the following year in an attempt to defend her title, and Sara Errani was a finalist in 2012.
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Paolini played an excellent match to secure her place in the final, capitalizing on the fact that Mira Andreeva could not replicate her quarterfinal performance against Aryna Sabalenka. One break was enough for the Italian to win the first set, and then, after the 17-year-old Andreeva took a 1-0 lead in the second set, the 11-year-older Paolini won six games in a row for the biggest success of her career, which has already propelled her to seventh place in the WTA rankings.
Coco Gauff will also achieve a career-high ranking despite yet another disappointing outcome against Iga Świątek. On Monday, she will replace Aryna Sabalenka in second place.
