Swiatek sets up Muchova showdown for French Open crown
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[June 09, 2023]
By Karolos Grohmann, Julien Pretot and Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS (Reuters) -Defending champion Iga Swiatek was pushed hard by
Beatriz Haddad Maia at the French Open on Thursday, but the top seed
soaked up the pressure to overcome the Brazilian 6-2 7-6(7) and
reach a third final in four years at Roland Garros.
She will play on Saturday the unseeded Karolina Muchova, who saved a
match point before overcoming second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(5)
6-7(5) 7-5 to end the Belarusian's hopes of becoming world number
one.
Swiatek, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup last year and in 2020,
was put through the wringer by Haddad Maia but held her nerve in a
tense tiebreak to see off the 14th seed's challenge.
"She has a really nice game for clay courts with a lot of top spin,"
Swiatek said of Haddad Maia, who beat the Pole in their only other
meeting in Toronto last year.
"She can also play flat and aggressive. She's a fighter. For every
match, she played fierce."
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Sabalenka would have taken over top spot in the rankings by winning
the title in Paris, but the Australian Open champion wasted her
opportunity at 5-2 in the third set against Muchova and bowed out
after losing the last five games in a row.
That made Muchova only the third player ranked outside the top 40 to
reach the Roland Garros final after Jelena Ostapenko (2017) and
Swiatek (2020) - both of whom won the title.
SKILFUL BEST
The last unseeded player left in the men's and women's draw, Muchova,
who fought back from the mid-200s into the top 50 after an injury in
2021, was at her skilful best to subdue the big-hitting Sabalenka.
"I don't really know what happened," Muchova said. "The atmosphere,
the people pushing me in all the match. I just keep fighting and it
worked. I really don't know what happened. I am so happy."
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![](../images/060923PIX/sports67.jpg)
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros,
Paris, France - June 8, 2023 Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in
action during her semi final match against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
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There was light at the end of the tunnel for
Japan's Miyu Kato after a difficult few days, as she put her women's
doubles disqualification behind her to claim the mixed doubles crown
with Germany's Tim Puetz.
The pair rallied to beat Canada's Bianca Andreescu and New Zealander
Michael Venus 4-6 6-4 (10-6) in the final.
Kato and her Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi had been
disqualified from the women's doubles in the third round when Kato
hit a ball down the court between points, inadvertently striking a
ball girl. That led to the Asian pair's disqualification, leaving
Kato in tears.
"It's been challenging mentally after the disqualification. I want
to thank everyone for the heartfelt messages of support," Kato said.
"I was able to use all the positive energy so I could be here today.
Thanks to Aldila and all the Indonesian fans. I'm doing my best so
we can one day return and claim the women's doubles title."
The action resumes on Friday with the men's semi-finals, as world
number one Carlos Alcaraz meets 22-times Grand Slam champion Novak
Djokovic and last year's runner-up Casper Ruud faces Alexander
Zverev.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, Julien Pretot and Shrivathsa
Sridhar; Editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)
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