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Heading into the contest having won two of
their last three meetings, the 22-year-old Swiatek dominated
from the start and wrapped up the opening set in just over half
an hour against the American 18th seed.
The second set was no different with Keys causing little trouble
to Swiatek as the world number one broke early and raced into a
5-3 lead before breaking again to secure the win.
"I feel really good," Swiatek said. "I wasn't really thinking
about what happened last year. But repeating this result is a
great thing.
"I'll have a chance to play a nice match in two days. So it's
really exciting. I'm happy overall with the whole tournament."
Swiatek, a four-times Grand Slam champion, is now the youngest
player to reach 10 WTA level finals on clay since Swiss Martina
Hingis in 2000.
In the second semi, Rybakina looked on course for an easy
victory after taking the first set for the loss of just one
game.
But as the 2022 Wimbledon champion was serving for the match,
Sabalenka shifted the momentum by breaking the Kazakh's serve
and then holding her own to force a decider.
After a thrilling third set the match went to a tiebreak where
the two-time Grand Slam winner prevailed.
"It's definitely going to be a great battle. We're always
fighting as hard as we can," Sabalenka said. "It's always
incredible matches. I'm really looking forward to this final.
I'm gonna do everything I can to get this win."
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare and Janina Nuno Rios;
editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)
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