10sBalls.com • TennisBalls.com

Swiatek to Face Krejickova in Dubai Final of French Open Champions

Iga Swiatek will face Barbora Krejcikova in a Dubai final pitting the current and former French Open champions. Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images

Long before Iga Swiatek was lifting Grand Slam silverware, she was math whiz in school.

Imposing acute angles and number crunching authority, Swiatek continues posing unsolvable problems for class competitors.

Commanding the center of the court, Swiatek soared through five straight games sweeping Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to charge into her first Dubai final today.

Delivering dominance in the desert, Swiatek raised her record to 6-0 against Gauff—her most wins against any opponent—and 6-0 in WTA 1000 semifinals.

“For sure Coco is a great player, you know,” said Swiatek after raising her 2023 record to 12-2. “I knew it’s gonna be tough especially after last year we played like five times.

“It’s always tough. You never know if you’re going to see something new or not. I just wanted to kind of focus on myself and keep going. And just be concentrated with my tactics.”

The world No. 1 carries a 12-2 finals record into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final against Barbora Krejcikova in what will be a clash of the reigning and former Roland Garros champions.

The 2021 Roland Garros singles and doubles champion Krejcikova beat third-seeded Jessica Pegula, 6-1, 5-7, 6-0. Krejcikova, who upset Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in a rousing quarterfinal comeback yesterday, won 25 of 32 points played in the final set. 

Former world No. 2 Krejcikova will contest her second Dubai final in the last three years as she aims to knock off the world’s top two-ranked players. Krejcikova beat Swiatek to collect her fifth title in Ostrava last fall.

Today’s opening semifinal was a rematch of the 2022 French Open final. n Roland Garros’ red clay, a sharp Swiatek outclassed an 18-year-old Gauff 6-1, 6-3 to lift La Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the second time in the last three years—and stretch her winning streak to 35 matches.

The Swiatek twisting topspin forehand is one of the heaviest in the sport and she’s used it to batter the Gauff forehand which is predicated on a more elaborate takeback. Swiatek rushed that wing and rattled errors today. When she wasn’t doing damage with her forehand, Swiatek slashed biting backhands, sometimes while sliding, and stood up to Gauff’s stinging serve. Swiatek swarmed the Gauff second serve winning 17 of 22 points played on the American’s second delivery and breaking five times.