Iga Swiatek eyes French Open treble but Karolina Muchova is a real threat

S hortly after Aryna Sabalenka’s hopes of a duel between the top two in the French Open final had crumbled to dust, Iga Swiatek, the top seed, also found herself in a potentially precarious position on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Swiatek’s first-set lead did little to stop Beatriz Haddad Maia from carrying herself as if she had zero doubts in her ability to win. Throughout the second set, Haddad Maia threw the kitchen sink at her, whipping up heavy topspin forehands, eviscerating returns, sweeping into the net to finish points. The Brazilian, 27, forced a tiebreak and then she reached set point.

Under immense pressure, though, Swiatek responded. After grinding out a forehand error from the Brazilian, at 6-6 the Pole somehow found enough space from the middle of the court to produce a sharp-angled crosscourt backhand winner, an utterly outrageous shot. As the two players tussled to decide the tiebreak, the match ended with four successive groundstroke winners. Three of them came from Swiatek’s racket.

The 6-2, 7-6 (7) semi-final win over Haddad Maia will probably only be remembered as another of her straight-sets wins en route to another final, but between the mental strength she exhibited and the spectacular shotmaking she produced under immense pressure, it was a clear reminder of why all signs suggest that she is on the way to becoming an all-time great.

On Saturday, Swiatek will return to Court Philippe Chatrier in pursuit of her third French Open title in four years and her fourth grand slam title overall aged only 22. She currently boasts a 27-2 (93%) record in Paris having reached the fourth round on her debut. Her record since: champion, quarter-finalist, champion, 2023 finalist.

Should she pull off the victory, it