Poland's Swiatek cruises into French Open final, eyes 6th straight tournament victory

No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek reached her second French Open final and extended her winning streak to 34 matches by beating No. 20 Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 on a sunny, breezy afternoon Thursday.

Their semifinal was even at 2-all after 20 minutes, before Swiatek used her heavy forehand, quick-strike ability and all-court excellence to seize control with a five-game run. After the 20th-seeded Kasatkina picked up one game, Swiatek took the last five.

She ended the match with 22 winners, more than twice as many as Kasatkina's 10. And Swiatek was efficient, too, limiting her unforced errors to 13.

Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is bidding for her second Grand Slam trophy. The other came at Roland Garros in 2020.

The men's semifinals are Friday, with 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal against No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev, and 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against No. 8 Casper Ruud.

Swiatek has won her past five tournaments, last losing in February, against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. The only Polish player to win a major singles title in tennis is now on a winning streak that equals one Serena Williams had in 2013. The only longer run this century was a 35-match unbeaten stretch by Venus Williams in 2000.

WATCH | Swiatek reaches semis with win over Pegula:

The semifinal Thursday, played with the temperature hovering around 25 degrees Celsius, was the fourth match between Swiatek and Kasatkina in 2022. Swiatek took each of the first three in straight sets while allowing Kasatkina to capture a grand total of just 11 games.

Those earlier three all came on hard courts. After winning her quarter-final, Kasatkina was asked whether she felt better about challenging Swiatek on clay.

In this instance,