Iga Swiatek is on to the French Open final, but getting there wasn’t quite as easy as her dominant first five rounds.
Against aggressive No. 14 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in Thursday’s semifinal, the world No. 1 cruised to a 6-2 first set despite being broken in the opening game of the match. But she then struggled to put the Brazilian away before surviving a 7-6(7) second set. Swiatek entered the match having dropped just 15 games all tournament, not yet needing to win seven games in any set.
For Karolina Muchova, Swiatek’s opponent in Saturday’s final, the Pole’s difficulties in putting away Haddad Maia could offer a potential blueprint on how to beat her, something that has been done just once on clay this year (her third set retirement against Elena Rybakina in the Rome quarterfinals).
Haddad Maia had success when mounting a sustained attack, particularly on Swiatek’s serve. She converted two of seven break chances and even finished with a slight edge in unforced errors, committing 25 compared to 26 by Swiatek.
For her part, Swiatek managed to exploit some service struggles by Haddad Maia. The Pole converted all four of her break opportunities and held her opponent to a mere 54% of first-service points won. But while the reigning French Open champion has, to date, defended her title successfully without dropping a set, the second set of the semifinal has taken at least a bit of the shine off of her aura of invincibility.
Muchova doesn’t quite have Haddad Maia’s big forehand, but she has demonstrated the same type of aggressive, attacking play that appeared to make Swiatek uncomfortable on Thursday. Even that may not be enough to keep the 22-year-old from nabbing a third title in four years at Roland Garros, but what might have seemed like an inevitable outcome not long ago suddenly looks to be at least a little in doubt.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
