Iga Swiatek reached the French Open final for the third time in four years after coming through a bruising semifinal match with Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2 7-6 (9-7).

Fresh from a seventh straight defeat of USA star Coco Gauff, the world No. 1 was expected to progress with minimal fuss against a player with limited clay-court success. The prospect of facing the unseeded Karolina Muchova in the final — the Czech having beaten second seed Aryna Sabalenka in a brutal earlier contest — may also have been encouraging.

The first set certainly suggested things would go as expected, Swiatek recovering from a break in the opening game to sweep aside her opponent for the loss of just two games. However, Beatriz Haddad won the only previous meeting between these two in Toronto last August, and she was not prepared to roll over.

With Swiatek struggling with her service action and uncomfortable trusting her forehand, Haddad Maia's awesome power off her groundstrokes, particularly on the forehand side, kept her rival unsettled. She went 3-1 up in the second set, and although Swiatek broke back for 3-3, there was little sign of her running away with the contest.

The first set certainly suggested things would go as expected, Swiatek recovering from a break in the opening game to sweep aside her opponent for the loss of just two games. However, Beatriz Haddad won the only previous meeting between these two in Toronto last August, and she was not prepared to roll over.

With Swiatek struggling with her service action and uncomfortable trusting her forehand, Haddad Maia's awesome power off her groundstrokes, particularly on the forehand side, kept her rival unsettled. She went 3-1 up in the second set, and although Swiatek broke back for 3-3, there was little sign of her running away with the contest.


Indeed, it was Haddad Maia who looked the more confident at the start of the tiebreaker, although an early mini-break was snuffed out by an awesome return winner from Swiatek.

It became increasingly tough to call a winner as the breaker wore on, with each player showing signs of tightening up at key moments only to respond with some sumptuous groundstrokes. Haddad Maia hit the net at set point; Swiatek seemed unable to commit to a forehand on her first match point. Yet in the end, Swiatek found her form on that wing at the critical moment: a whipped cross-court winner gave her match point on serve, and she finished a dominant rally at the net.