Iga Swiatek increased her win streak mark as she clocked her 33rd in a row on Wednesday to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals 6-3, 6-2 over Jessica Pegula.
The Pole moved up to third on the all-time win streak list as she nudged past Justine Henin, who won her own 32 on the trot in 2007-2008.
The top seed produced a second defeat of Pegula during her win streak after defeating the American in the March Miami semis.
Pegula saved three match points in the second set before exiting against the superior firepower of her opponent.
Swiatek finished nearly level with 30 winners and 28 unforced errors as she broke Pegula five times. in 89 minutes.
This was my most solid match here, so I’m pretty happy with the performance,” Swiatek said.
“From A to Z I was the pretty focused and I didn’t let Jessica come back.”
Swiatek will face a familiar foe when she plays Kasatkina on Thursday’s semi-final
“I’ve played her like three times already this season and every match is a different story.
“I want to take advantage of what I know about her game. But you can’t become too confident because you have to really stay focused and be ready for anything.
“My main key for me is to just play my tennis and play aggressively and try to dominate from the beginning.”a
She will play for the final against Daria Kasatkina, winner over Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-6(5).
It took the winner 26 Grand Slams to get this far, with victory taking slightly more than two hours.
Kasatkina won her first major quarter-final after losses to Angelique Kerber and Sloane Stephens, both in 2018.
The winner broke five times while losing her own serve on four occasions.
“I feel very good, everything is happening for the first time, so I am very happy to reach the semi-finals, it is a dream come true,” Kasatkina said.
“The second set was a roller coaster, I served for the match once and had good chances, then at 5-5 she had break points, but I still lost the game.
“It was difficult to handle because I really wanted to win, in those moments you feel like victory is slipping out of your hands.
“I’m happy with the way I stayed on track, I didn’t think about a possible disappointment or things like that. I’m very happy for the mental strength that I showed.”
Main photo:- Iga Swiatek wins her 33rd match on the trot – by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
