‘I was in the zone’

Iga Swiatek celebrates beating Marketa Vondrousova in Paris yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Reigning women's champion Iga Swiatek continued her ruthless demolition of French Open opponents on Tuesday as she stormed into the semi-finals.

Swiatek, 23, thrashed Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 to set up a last-four showdown with American third seed Coco Gauff, the player she beat in the 2022 Roland Garros final.

Paris career record of 33-2

World No. 1 Swiatek improved her career record in Paris to 33-2 and is on course to become the first woman to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen three years in a row since Justine Henin in 2005-07.

After Swiatek's 40-minute rout of Anastasia Potapova in the last 16, the only consolation for Vondrousova was her snapping the Pole's incredible run of 20 consecutive games won early in the second set. "Honestly I think everything worked," said Swiatek. "I felt like I was in the zone today."

Since saving match point against Naomi Osaka in Round Two, Swiatek has looked every bit the tournament favourite and goes into her semi-final with Gauff having won 10 of their 11 meetings, all in straight sets.

Gauff has come up short against Swiatek in four attempts on clay and was beaten by the top seed on her way to the title in Rome last month. "You don't want to change your routines. Not to put too much baggage on your shoulders, just treat it like any other match," said Swiatek. "Against Coco, it's not easy, she really likes playing on clay especially here. I'll just focus on myself."

Jabeur goes down fighting

Gauff passed her toughest test of the fortnight as she fought back from a set down to beat three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever