Swiatek shakes off early nerves to reach semi-finals

PARIS: World number one Iga Swiatek shook off some early nerves to extend her winning series to a staggering 33 as she beat American Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-2 to book her spot in the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday.

Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is on the longest unbeaten run in the women’s tour since Serena Williams bagged 34 victories in succession in 2013.

The Polish player, gunning for a second title in three years at Roland Garros, appeared a tad shaky in the initial games before marching past the 11th seed to set up a meeting with Russian Daria Kasatkina for a place in Saturday’s final.

The 2020 champion is bidding to become the fourth player since 2000 to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup multiple times after Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Two days after dropping her first set of the tournament, Swiatek got off to a fast start, stealing Pegula’s serve with a crosscourt forehand winner.

But unforced errors immediately crept up in her game and she was immediately broken back and showed early signs of nerves. The Pole, however, went up a break again to lead 4-3 before holding and setting up set points in the ninth game. Pegula did her a favour by sending a routine forehand wide on the second.

Kasatkina reaches maiden Grand Slam semi-finals

Earlier on Wednesday, Kasatkina reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) victory over fellow Russian Veronika Kudermetova. World number 20 Kasatkina, playing in her third career quarter-final at the Slams but first since 2018, has made the semis without dropping a set.

Kudermetova was in her first quarter-final at the majors and the tension was apparent as she committed 50 unforced errors and had to save 12 of 17 break points.

Kudermetova, also 25, needed a medical timeout at 5-6 in the second set and battled to save four match points in the tiebreak.

Kasatkina, however, secured victory on her fifth match point courtesy of a sweetly-timed backhand drop shot.

RESULTS: QF: Women: I Swiatek bt J Peggula 6-3, 6-2; D Kasatkina bt V Kudermetova 6-4, 7-6 (5)