Because of how different clay court tennis is, the French Open is stylistically from the hard court and the grass court, so the French Open helps dominate by players who have mastered its surface. On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal Road was seen on the clay for nearly 20 years, winning 14 French open titles.
On the women’s side, Iga Sweet became Queen of Roland Garos, coming in 2025 as the winner of the last three French Opens and four of the last five. Swiatek arrived in the semi-final match against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday, dropping all tournaments in one set (the opening set of the fourth round against Elena Rybakina), but the quest for the four straight French open title ended against hard hit Sabalenka (7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0).
World No. 1 got hot, winning the first three games of the match, giving him an early advantage. Despite appearing to be frustrated early, Swiatek fought to force a tiebreaker for the first set, but Sabalenka cruised Tie Break 7-1 to win the first set.
In the second set, it was Swiatek who placed Sabelenka on her hind legs and she was visibly annoyed and very vocal in her box.
Both players struggled to serve in the first two sets, as they had 11 breaks in the first 23 games of the match. This means neither player was able to gain complete control and create a thrilling and tense tennis. However, when the third set began, Sabalenka was able to get an early break, but eventually combined it to get a 3-0 advantage to open the match, in the pair early stages. This time, Swiatek had no answers for her, so Sabalenka rolled the final set 6-0, punching tickets to the French Open Finals for the first time in her career.
I wasn’t upset (Sabalenka was a little Pre-match favorites) It was still a surprising result just because of how dominant Swiatek has been. Swiatek’s record at Roland-Garros is phenomenal. She has won 26 consecutive matches dating back to the 2021 quarterfinals, and has always had two losses at the French Open, which enters the semifinals on Thursday. Swiatek struggled overall in 2025 as there was no singles title yet.
With the end of the French Open Title Streak, Sabalenka surges with confidence to enter the final against the second-seeded Cocogoff or tournament Cinderella story of France’s qualifying Lois Boisson. Sabalenka’s fifth Grand Slam Finals in his final six appearances are close to the third leg of his fourth major title and career grand slam.
