PARIS: Iga Swiatek powered into the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday as a comfortable victory over American Jessica Pegula extended the world number one’s winning streak to 33 matches.

The Polish star cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win on Court Philippe Chatrier to set up a last-four meeting with Daria Kasatkina on Thursday.

Swiatek will equal Venus Williams’ record for the longest unbeaten run for a women’s player in the 21st century if she wins a second Roland Garros title this week.

But she said she still feels nervous before big matches despite appearing in almost unbeatable form.

“I do (feel nervous),” said Swiatek. “If I stop feeling nervous than something weird is going on... Sometimes stress is a positive thing as it makes you more tense and more active.”

The top seed, who turned 21 on Tuesday, won her only Grand Slam title so far in Paris two years ago.

She has won five consecutive tournaments this year, including four WTA 1,000 titles.

Despite not being at her best, Swiatek still hit 30 winners in an ultimately one-sided match to make her third Slam semi-final and second in succession.

The 11th seed Pegula has also enjoyed a fine season but is still waiting to reach a maiden major semi-final after also losing in the last eight at the previous two Australian Opens.

Swiatek got off to a fast start, stealing Pegula’s serve with a crosscourt forehand winner. But unforced errors immediately crept up in her game and she was immediately broken back and showed early signs of nerves.

The Pole, however, went up a break again to lead 4-3 before holding and setting up set points in the ninth game. Pegula did her a favour by sending a routine forehand wide on the second.

Another of those gave Swiatek a break for 3-1 in the second set and she kept her grip, only squandering three match points before wrapping it up on Pegula’s serve with a booming backhand winner down the line.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kasatkina reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over fellow Russian Veronika Kudermetova.

World number 20 Kasatkina, playing in her third career quarter-final at the Slams but first since 2018, has made the semis without dropping a set.

Kudermetova was in her first quarter-final at the majors and the tension was apparent as she committed 50 unforced errors and had to save 12 of 17 break points.

“You could see that the match was really nervous and tight, especially the tie-break,” said Kasatkina, a former junior champion in Paris.

Kudermetova, also 25, needed a medical timeout at 5-6 in the second set and battled to save four match points in the tiebreak.

Kasatkina, however, secured victory on her fifth match point courtesy of a sweetly-timed backhand drop shot.

NADAL DOWNS DJOKOVIC IN LATE-NIGHT EPIC

On Tuesday, talks of an end to Rafael Nadal’s reign proved premature once again as the claycourt king stayed on course for a record-extending men’s 22nd Grand Slam title by beating arch- rival Novak Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in a late-night classic to reach his 15th semi-final at Roland Garros.

The 13-time French Open champion, beaten by the world number one in the semi-finals here last year, arrived in Paris on the back of two injuries that had hampered his preparations.

Having already survived a five-set thriller against Felix Auger Aliassime in the previous round, the Spaniard, who has only lost three times at the French Open since his first campaign in 2005, knows every inch of the immense court Philippe Chatrier and Djokovic paid for the reminder.

The Serbian is still stuck at 20 Grand Slam titles after being barred from taking part in the Australian Open by local authorities over his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19 — a major that Nadal won.

On the day teenager Carlos Alcaraz, who has been widely tipped as his successor, was knocked out, Nadal threw the punches and had defending champion Djokovic on the ropes in a high octane start under the spotlights.

Djokovic fought back in an 88-minute second set but the 35-year-old Nadal, backed by a partisan crowd, found the resources to end it in four sets despite being a break down in the fourth and set up a meeting with German third seed Alexander Zverev for a place in Sunday’s final.

“It’s a very emotional moment for me. Thank you everyone. It’s incredible, the support I get from you. Everyone knows how important it is for me to play here. It’s the most important tournament of my career,” Nadal said on court after the four-hour-12-minute tug of war that ended at at 1:16 am local time (2316 GMT Tuesday).

Earlier, Zverev capitalised on an error-filled performance from Carlos Alcaraz to tame the 19-year-old Spanish sensation 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) after three hours and 18 minutes.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2022