PARIS — No. 1 Iga Swiatek overcame poor starts to each set and moved closer to a second consecutive French Open championship by defeating Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2, 7-6 (7) in the semifinals on Thursday.
The victory also assured Swiatek of keeping the No. 1 ranking after the tournament.
The 22-year-old from Poland is trying to win her third title at Roland Garros and fourth major trophy overall.
On Saturday, Swiatek will face unseeded Karolina Muchova, a 26-year-old from the Czech Republic, who advanced to her first Slam final with a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion.
Muchova erased a match point while trailing 5-2 in the third set and then grabbed the last five games by claiming 20 of 24 points. She is now 5-0 against opponents ranked in the Top 3.
Swiatek is now 60-13 in Grand Slam play for her career — the same record Serena Williams had after 73 matches at majors.
She did not begin particularly well on Thursday, getting broken at love in the very first game. But she quickly turned that set around. Then, in the second, the big-swinging, left-handed Haddad Maia took a 3-1 lead, before Swiatek got back on serve.
In the tiebreaker, Haddad Maia held a set point at 6-5, but she slapped a seemingly neutral ball into the net. A few moments later, it was over.
The 14th-seeded Haddad Maia, who was suspended for 10 months for doping after failing a test in 2019, was the first woman from Brazil to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in 55 years.
