Polish teenager Iga Swiatek and Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin will square off in the French Open final after dominating their semi-finals on Friday (NZ time).
Swiatek became the youngest player to reach the French Open women's final in 19 years with her 6-2 6-1 win over qualifier Nadia Podoroska, while American fourth seed Kenin marched into her second Grand Slam final of the year with a commanding 6-4 7-5 victory against Czech Petra Kvitova.
"Sofia is on fire this year," says Swiatek. "I don't want to think about it - I'm just happy I'm in the final."
World number 131 Podoroska, who was looking to become the first qualifier to reach a major final in men's or women's singles, had no answer to Swiatek's powerful groundstrokes and sleek movement.
Swiatek had broken serve 27 times en route to the last four and added five more to that count before finishing off the one-sided contest on Court Philippe Chatrier in 69 minutes.
"I'm kind of surprised, really," says Swiatek. "I always knew that if I would be in a Grand Slam final, it would be at the French Open.
Swiatek is the first Polish woman to reach the Roland Garros final in 81 years and the first at any major since Agnieszka Radwanska at Wimbledon eight years ago.
"I wanted to play this match as a first-round match, I didn't want to think of it as a semi-final otherwise I would have been too stressed," she says. "I just wanted to be aggressive like previous matches. I'm feeling good and like nothing hurts me."
Swiatek is the youngest player to reach the women's final at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters in 2001.
Reuters
