World No. 1 Sabalenka dethrones Swiatek to reach first Roland Garros final
Aryna Sabalenka has ended Iga Swiatek's reign at Roland Garros.
World No. 1 Sabalenka defeated No. 5 seed Swiatek 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0 in their French Open semifinal showdown on Thursday. Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion and two-time runner-up, is now into her first Grand Slam final off of hard court.
"I'm super happy with the win today and beating Iga at Roland Garros," Sabalenka said, after her win. "It's just something unbelievable and something I'm super proud of, and yeah, just happy to get through this difficult match."
Sabalenka took 2 hours and 19 minutes to snap four-time champion Swiatek's 26-match winning streak at the event. Swiatek picked up her first title here in 2020, then won three in a row from 2022 to last year. Swiatek's Roland Garros win-loss record now sits at 40-3.
But Sabalenka is definitively on top of the tour at this point, at WTA events as well as Grand Slams. Her victory over Swiatek was her tour-leading 40th main-draw win of this season, and she has won her last five Grand Slam semifinal matches.
Title hopes extended: After defeating this decade's dominant force at Roland Garros, Sabalenka's quest will continue for one more match. She will face Coco Gauff of the United States in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 final on Saturday.
Sabalenka and Gauff have a totally deadlocked head-to-head. They are 5-5 overall and 1-1 at Grand Slam events.
"[The semifinal] was a big match, and it felt like a final, but I know that the job is not done yet," Sabalenka said. "I have to go out there on Saturday, and I have to fight and I have to bring my best tennis, and I have to work for that title, especially if it's going to be Coco."
Fast facts: This was only the second Grand Slam meeting between Sabalenka and Swiatek. Poland's Swiatek pulled off a three-set win over Sabalenka in the 2022 US Open semifinals, en route to her one Grand Slam title off of clay.
Swiatek came into the match with a 5-1 head-to-head lead over Sabalenka on the Pole's beloved clay courts, but this was the first year since 2020 that Swiatek came into Roland Garros without having won a clay-court title.
It was a different story for Sabalenka, who had already won three titles (including a third Madrid title on clay) and reached three other finals this year entering Paris. Now, she has reached six Grand Slam finals during the 2020s -- one more than Swiatek.
"It's going to mean everything to me and my team, because I have to say that almost like the whole life I've been told where [clay] is not my thing and then I didn't have any confidence.
"And in the past I don't know how many years, we've been able to develop my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay. If I'll be able to get this trophy, it's just going to mean the world for us."
Sabalenka is now the first woman to reach the singles final in three consecutive Grand Slam events (2024 US Open, 2025 Australian Open and French Open) since Serena Williams (Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, all in 2016).
Match moments: The clash took place beneath a closed roof on a wet day in Paris, and in more controlled conditions, service returns became the story of the closely-contested first set. Sabalenka led by a double-break at 3-0 and served for the set at 6-5 -- but Swiatek battled back both times. Both players were broken four times en route to a first-set tiebreak.
In the breaker, though, Sabalenka came up with some of her most overwhelming serves to supplement her return prowess; she fired an ace to change ends with a dominant 5-1 lead. On the next point, Swiatek misfired long on return to give Sabalenka five set points; the top seed needed only one to wrap up a hard-fought first set after an intense 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Three straight breaks opened the second set, but as quickly as they appeared, the service breaks dried up. Swiatek had the break lead at 2-1 and she held that advantage all the way through the rest of the set, as she flattened out her forehand and found better net play. Swiatek executed a love hold to level the match and keep her streak alive for at least one more set.
Swiatek's hopes, though, were rapidly extinguished as Sabalenka took command in the third set. It was Sabalenka who doubled down on ferocious, flat forehands as she romped through the 22-minute decider. In the third set, Sabalenka went 3-for-3 on break points, hit five winners to Swiatek's two, and was credited with zero unforced errors.
