Aryna Sabalenka kept it as respectful as possible following her big French Open win over Iga Swiatek as the Belarusian thought both played at a very high level, with the only difference being that the Pole may have lost her a confidence a bit when it mattered the most.
Battling for her first French Open final spot, the 27-year-old delivered and registered a 7-6 (1) 4-6 6-0 win to become the first player since Maria Sakkari to beat the Polish tennis star at the Parisian Grand Slam.
The first set featured lights-out tennis as Sabalenka and Swiatek combined for 31 winners. Also, it took them more than an hour to finish the opener.
Down by a set, the Pole earned an early break and went on to send the match into a decider. But then out of nowhere, the four-time French Open champion's level dropped massively and the top-seeded Belarusian bagged the third set by bageling her biggest rival for the first time in her career.
Sabalenka asked how did she find Swiatek's tennis
“I have to say both of us improved a lot. I think today was a really high level match. I think she played really well. Both of us were struggling a bit on the serve in the first half of the match. I think she’s playing great tennis. Maybe she lost a bit of confidence, so that’s why sometimes you see her missing balls she shouldn’t be missing. But overall I think today was a really high level match and today she played really great tennis," Sabalenka explained.
Next up for Sabalenka will be a career 11th meeting versus Coco Gauff. Also, it will be their second Grand Slam final. Two years ago, the American beat the Belarusian to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Sabalenka recently beat Gauff in the Madrid Open final and now she will be looking to do the same at the French Open and make amends for falling short in their first Major final battle.
