Coco Gauff’s French Open final exam: Iga Swiatek, tennis’ toughest test

Coco Gauff celebrated her virtual high school graduation in front of the Eiffel Tower two weeks ago, but she still has one more final exam in Paris. It is the toughest tennis in today.

Gauff, 18 and the youngest Grand Slam finalist since Maria Sharapova won 2004 Wimbledon, plays top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland, live on NBC, NBCSports.com/live, the NBC Sports app and Peacock Premium on Saturday at 9 a.m. ET.

Gauff has been ticketed for this stage for years, but Swiatek has owned the WTA Tour for months, winning her last 34 matches dating to February.

“I have nothing to lose,” the 23rd-ranked Gauff said after winning her semifinal over 59th-ranked Italian Martina Trevisan. “She’s definitely the favorite.”

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Swiatek won both of their previous meetings in straight sets, though Gauff pushed her to a tiebreak on clay last year.

“From what I see on court, she’s developing every year basically,” Swiatek said after sweeping 20th-ranked Russian Daria Kasatkina in her semifinal. “When I see her, I tend to forget that she’s 18.”

A tournament both players remember is the 2018 French Open. Gauff, then 14, beat future U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez of Canada to reach the final.

As Gauff cooled down, a 17-year-old Swiatek was leading American Caty McNally in the other semifinal.

“I was actually preparing to play her kind of in the final,” Gauff said.

But McNally saved a match point, forced a third set and prevailed. Gauff ultimately won the tournament, becoming the youngest junior Grand Slam champion since Martina Hingis in 1994.

A month later, Swiatek won the Wimbledon junior title. That run included upsetting the top-seeded American Whitney Osuigwe in the first round and a quarterfinal