Iga Swiatek marches past Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the French Open finals, retains the World No 1 ranking

Iga Swiatek overpowers Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semis on her quest for the third French Open crown.

Iga Swiatek marches past Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the French Open finals, retains the World No 1 ranking

Iga Swiatek

Polish superstar Iga Swiatek shows yet again why she is ranked No.1 as she has made her third French Open final in a dominating fashion defeating the Brazilian World No.14 Beatriz Haddad Maia: 6-2, 7-6 (9-7). After a one-sided first set, the Brazilian who is playing her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final, started off the second set with a break of serve in the third game. But Swiatek was able to break her back in the sixth and then seal the deal in the tie-breaker.

With this final entry, she will also retain the World No.1 rankings even without clinching the title. The equation to retain the ranking for her was to reach a round extra than the current World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka. With the Belurasian crashing out in the sem-finals here, Swiatek’s World No.1 ranking is secured.

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Swiatek will face the unseeded Czech player Karolina Muchova on the quest for her third French Open crown. In the first semi-finals, Muchova did an amazing comeback saving match points against Aryna Sabalenka at 2-5 in the third set. She eventually won the thriller by a score of 7-6(7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5.

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Consistent Iga Swiatek – The true World Number 1

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek

The Polish World No.1 came into Paris dealing with an injury sustained during the Italian Open quarter-final battle against Elena Rybakina when she eventually had to withdraw in the third set. There was also the race for the world no.1 ranking among Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Elena Rybakina coming into the French Open. The Kazhak World No.4 Rybakina was expected to meet Swiatek in the semi-finals but an unfortunate fever and health issues made her withdraw before the third round here.

The American World No.3 Jessica Pegula’s Paris campaign ended in the third round. Coming into the second week, the battle for World No.1 was reduced to Swiatek and Sabalenka. It was expected that they both will meet in the final at the French capital to determine the World number 1 ranking as well but Karolina Muchova had other plans for the night in the semi-finals.

The odds are heavily in favor of the Polish for the third title here in Paris but Muchova has shown real character and mentality in beating big names throughout the tournament. It will be interesting to see how well she can manage the pressure of playing her first Grand Slam final against the World Number 1 player this Saturday.

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