By Erik Gudris | Thursday, October 8, 2020
Nineteen-year-old Iga Swiatek continued her dominant form with a straight-sets win to reach the Roland Garros women’s singles final.
Photo credit: @RolandGarros
Nineteen-year-old Iga Swiatek of Poland continued her impressive and historic run at Roland Garros to reach her first career major singles final.
Swiatek dominated Argentinian qualifier Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-1 in just 70 minutes to reach the Roland Garros women’s singles final.
Swiatek breezed through her side of the women’s draw by only dropping 23 games in total to the final round. That included a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over top seed and pre-tournament favorite Simona Halep in the fourth round.
Swiatek, has surprised many, including herself, that she is now in the final.
“I’m kind of surprised. Before the tournament, I didn’t think I could play so good here. On the other hand, I knew that if I was going to be in a Grand Slam final, it would be here at the French Open. I love it here,” Swiatek said after the match.
Both Swiatek and Podoroska entered their semifinal having made history just by getting to the final four of Paris.
Both were playing in their first career major semifinal.
In addition, Swiatek was aiming to become the first Polish woman to reach the final in the Open Era. Podoroska, along with trying to become the first qualifier to ever reach a major final in the Open Era, was also trying to become the first Argentine woman to reach the Roland Garros final.
Swiatek took command early in the match with potent forehand winners and deft movement around the court. The young Pole soon earned a quick 3-0 lead.
With a total of 10 winners, Swiatek eventually wrapped up the first set 6-2.
Podoroska, who upset Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, tried to make a close match of it against her opponent. Yet Swiatek denied her any opportunities to make any sort of impression in the second set.
Swiatek again used her forehand to break Podoroska early in the set. Swiatek jumped out to 4-0 lead and looked ready to close out the match in a hurry.
Podoroska managed to get one of the service breaks back after a long fifth game to get on the scoreboard for 4-1. But Swiatek countered by breaking right back in the next game. Swiatek showed no nerves as she then prepared to serve out the match.
On match point, Swiatek struck a deep, hard serve that Podoroska could not handle. With that Swiatek celebrated the 6-2, 6-1 victory.
The hard-hitting Swiatek struck 23 winners to just six from Podoroska. Both women hit 23 unforced errors in the one sided encounter.
It is a major milestone: Swiatek is now the first Polish woman to reach a major final since Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon in 2012.
Swiatek awaits the winner of the next semifinal between Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova. Swiatek when asked about her potential opponent chose not to look ahead, and instead savor her accomplishment.
“Petra is a superstar for many years. Sofia is on fire this year. Really I don’t want to think about it right now. I’m just glad I’m in the final. It’s overwhelming for me.”