Staff Reporter.
@ATP.
World number one Iga Swiatek marched into her third Italian Open final as she beat American third seed Coco Gauff 6-4 6-3 in the first semi-final on Thursday.
Gauff went up by an early break, but world number one Swiatek quickly retrieved the deficit before going on to take the opening set.
Swiatek broke the American’s serve in the fifth game of the second set before a double fault at 4-3 up resulted in the 22-year-old Pole facing only her second break point of the match.
That opportunity was not seized and Swiatek broke the world number three’s serve in the next game to win the match in one hour and 47 minutes.
“I’m just going to play as best tennis as possible in the final,” said Swiatek, who won the Italian Open in 2021 and 2022.
“Whoever is going to be in the final, they are both great players. It is still a long way to win and still a lot of work to do.”
This brings Swiatek to a tantalizing juncture in history.
Only Serena Williams (2013) managed to win consecutive titles in Madrid, Rome and Paris.
Swiatek could lock down the first two legs in Saturday’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia final against the winner of the evening match between No.2 Aryna Sabalenka and No.13 Danielle Collins.