Defending champion Iga Swiatek felt the heat as she booked a French Open final spot for the third time in four years with a 6-2, 7-6(7) win over Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia on Thursday.
The world No. 1 found the going tough during the second set but when it came to the tie-break, she produced her full array of shots to outwit Haddad Maia and set up a Saturday showdown with unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova.
Swiatek, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup last year and in 2020, will retain the top spot in the WTA rankings after world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was knocked out earlier.
As fans waved a Polish ‘Poland Garros’ flag in the stands that were half empty when the match started, Swiatek showed rare signs of frustrations but managed to hold it together when it mattered to prevail as the clock hit the 9pm mark.
The 14th-seeded Haddad Maia, whose career has been hampered by multiple injuries and a 10-month doping ban in 2019-20, had played four consecutive three-set matches to fight her way to the semi-finals but finally met her match in Swiatek.
Karolina Muchova. Getty Images
Muchova’s magic
Earlier, unseeded Muchova saved a match point before battling past Sabalenka 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5 to end the Belarusian’s dream of becoming world No. 1.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka would have taken over the top spot by winning the title in Paris but she failed to convert her chance at 5-2 in the third set and bowed out. The last unseeded player left in the men’s and women’s draw, Muchova did not attempt to match Sabalenka’s massive hitting power from the baseline. Instead the Czech opted for a lighter touch.
She sliced the ball to take the pace off, playing Sabalenka’s backhand and hitting drop shots to force the tall Belarusian into the net.
Sabalenka, the biggest hitter in the women’s game, could not use her fierce forehand at will and was clearly rattled.
She was broken as Muchova moved 5-4 up but the Czech wasted one set point on her serve and was broken straight back before bagging the set at the second opportunity in the tie-break.
The Belarusian was broken at the start of the second.The pair traded two breaks each in the second set before Sabalenka earned two set points in the tie-break.
She squandered the first with a double fault but showed no nerves on the next to level. Sabalenka wasted four break points at 1-0 but snatched the key break in the third to move 4-2 clear.
After Muchova had saved a match point at 5-2 down she won win five straight games to reach her first grand slam final.
Zverev aims to be third time lucky
Paris: Fourth seed Casper Ruud will take on 22nd seed Alexander Zverev in a rousing French Open semi-final on Friday.
Ruud dominated large parts of his last-eight clash with Holger Rune, winning 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The pair had met at the same stage in a bad-tempered match in 2022 with Ruud beating Rune in four sets.
Ruud is now 21-11 on the season, including 16-5 on clay, and 18-5 at the claycourt major, where he has won 11 of his last 12 matches.
World No. 27 Zverev saw off grand slam quarter-final debutant Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his third straight Roland Garros semi-final.
Two years ago, Zverev lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets and then last year, the German left the stadium in a wheelchair after tearing ligaments in his right ankle late in the second set against Rafael Nadal.
“It was the most difficult year of my life, for sure,” said Zverev, runner-up at the 2020 US Open. “I’m happy to be back at this stage.”
Written with inputs from AP/PTI
