Iga Swiatek easily defeats Coco Gauff, will face Haddad Maia in semis

In a rematch of the 2022 French Open final, Iga Swiatek showed she’s still the woman to beat on clay.

Swiatek took on last year’s runner-up, Coco Gauff, in the last of the women’s semifinal matches, and while Gauff gained a little more ground this time, Swiatek still easily won 6-4, 6-2.

Gauff put up a good fight against Swiatek, which she desperately needed. Swiatek absolutely smashed Gauff in the 2022 final, with Gauff winning just three games all match. This time, Gauff won four games in the first set alone, and was able to successfully challenge Swiatek in several situations. She was dangerously accurate with her forehand shots along the line, which helped her stay competitive in the first set.

That first set was one of the best Gauff had ever played against Swiatek, and she still lost. The second set wasn’t nearly as competitive, as Swiatek figured out Gauff’s game plan and neutralized her forehand, taking away one of Gauff’s biggest advantages. Gauff is certainly getting better when she plays Swiatek, but she’s not quite on equal footing yet.

Gauff is now 0-7 against Swiatek, and has yet to win a single set. But since they’re both young, hopefully they’ll keep playing each other for years to come. There’s a lot of time for Gauff to turn it around. She will surely beat Swiatek someday. Unfortunately for her, that day wasn’t today.

Beatriz Haddad Maia upsets Ons Jabeur to make maiden Grand Slam semi

Haddad Maia broke new ground in her career at the French Open on Wednesday, while Jabeur again came up short in her mission to win a major title.

Haddad Maia, a No. 14 seed who has never been past the second round at any Grand Slam, defeated No. 7 Jabeur 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

Though Jabeur had never been to the French Open quarterfinal, she went to two straight Grand Slam finals in 2022, so she had the experience advantage over Haddad Maia. And in the first set, it looked like that mattered as Jabeur cruised to a relatively easy win. But Haddad Maia found her feet in the second set, keeping up with and eventually overtaking Jabeur, who forced a tiebreak to decide the second set.

All Jabeur had to do was win the tiebreak and the match would be over. But Haddad Maia won the first point and Jabeur trailed the entire time. The chance to end it slipped through Jabeur’s fingers, and Haddad Maia steamrolled her in the third set.

Haddad Maia digging deep to come back from a set down was impressive on its own, but even more when you understand the gauntlet she’s been through just to get to the semifinals. Including Wednesday’s win over Jabeur, Haddad Maia has played four straight three-set matches, and Wednesday was her third straight comeback from a set down. The fourth-round match she played on Monday against Sara Sorribes Tormo lasted three hours and 51 minutes. She’s spent more than 12 hours on the court over the last 11 days.

Haddad Maia will have the rest of Wednesday to rest, but she’s back on the clay Thursday for the semifinal against Iga Swiatek.