Iga Swiatek Storms Into French Open Final, Novak Djokovic Undergoes Knee Surgery

Iga Swiatek closed in on a third successive French Open title Thursday as she defeated Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals, while Novak Djokovic said surgery on his injured knee "went well". World number one Swiatek extended her winning run in Paris to 20 matches and advanced to a fourth Roland Garros final in five years, with 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva or Italy's Jasmine Paolini standing between her and another title. Swiatek, who had won 10 of her previous 11 meetings with Gauff in straight sets, wasted no time in grabbing the initiative as she broke the US Open champion in the opening game of the match.

The Pole withstood break points in her first two service games, before striking again to move up a double break at 4-1.

She closed out the first set without trouble, but third seed Gauff threatened a fightback when she nosed 3-1 ahead in the second set after wiping away tears following an argument with the chair umpire over the timing of a line call.

Swiatek though responded the very next game and won four in a row to surge to the cusp of victory.

Gauff saved two match points to make Swiatek serve it out, which the top seed eventually did at the fourth time of asking.

"It was intense. In the second set it was tight because we were breaking each other," said Swiatek.

"I was consistent with my tactics, didn't overthink stuff and just went for it in the end."

Swiatek improved to 34-2 at the French Open after beating Gauff at Roland Garros for the third tournament in a row.

She has won all four of her previous Grand Slam finals and could become only the fourth woman to win four Roland Garros titles in the Open era -- after Justine Henin, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf.

Swiatek is also on track to join Serena Williams as