PARIS: Sofia Kenin defeated Petra Kvitova 6-4, 7-5 to reach the French Open final on Thursday and will attempt to capture a second Grand Slam of the year following her Australian Open triumph.

Fourth seed Kenin will meet teenager Iga Swiatek of Poland in Saturday’s final after denying two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova in her bid for a third major.

The American faltered when serving for the match at 5-4 but broke Kvitova in the following game before closing out the victory over the Czech seventh seed.

Kenin, 21, will try to become the first woman to win two Slams in the same season since Angelique Kerber claimed the Australian and US Open titles in 2016.

Swiatek, meanwhile, became the first Polish woman in 81 years to reach the French Open final as she demolished Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-1.

The 54th ranked 19-year-old, who has yet to drop a set at the tournament, has matched the run of compatriot Jadwiga Jedrzejowska who finished runner-up at Roland Garros in 1939.

She is only the second Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open era after Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon in 2012.

Swiatek becomes the seventh unseeded women’s finalist at Roland Garros. Of the previous six, only Jelena Ostapenko in 2017 went on to lift the trophy.

The last woman to capture the French Open title without losing a set was Justine Henin in 2007.

World No.131 Podoroska was the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Paris in the modern era, and the first women’s qualifier to reach the last four of the French Open. She will rise to a career a best of 48th after the tournament, having arrived without a single Grand Slam main draw win to her name.

Novak Djokovic overcame neck and shoulder troubles to defeat Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday and set up a semi-final showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Djokovic beat Spanish 17th seed Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four of a major for the 38th time as he chases a second French Open and 18th Grand Slam title.

However, the world No.1 required treatment on his upper left arm after dropping his first set of the tournament on a chilly autumn evening in Paris.

The Serb now sits two wins away from becoming the first man in half a century — and only the third in history — to win all four Slams twice.

His only defeat in 37 matches this year came to Carreno Busta following his disqualification at the US Open for an angry swipe of a ball which hit a female line judge squarely in the throat.

Tsitsipas made his second Grand Slam semi-final with a straight-sets win over 13th seed Andrey Rublev, avenging last month’s loss to the Russian in the Hamburg final. The Greek fifth seed downed Rublev 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 to match his breakout run at the 2019 Australian Open.

Results on Thursday (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles:

Semi-finals: 4-Sofia Kenin (US) bt 7-Petra Kvitova (Zech Republic) 6-4, 7-5; Iga Swiatek (Poland) bt Nadia Podoroska (Argentina) 6-2, 6-1.

Wednesday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt 17-Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spain) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 5-Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) bt 13-Andrey Rublev (Russia) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2020