"Is this how die-hard Maria Sharapova fans felt for a decade?" - Fans react as Iga Swiatek beats Coco Gauff for 11th time to reach French Open final
Fans marvelled at the dominance of Iga Swiatek as she beat Coco Gauff for the 11th time in her career to reach the French Open final. They wondered whether this was how die-hard Maria Sharapova fans felt for a decade referring to the lopsided rivalry the Russian had with Serena Williams.
Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, beat Gauff 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals (SF) to book her third consecutive final at Roland Garros. Coco Gauff has beaten Iga Swiatek only once in her career -- in the semifinals of the Cincinatti Open in August 2023.
Remarkably, Iga Swiatek, the No. 1 player on the WTA Tour, has emerged victorious six times on hard courts and five times on clay courts against Gauff.
"Is this how die hard Maria Sharapova fans felt for over a decade?" a fan asked on X.
Fans commented that the Swiatek-Gauff rivalry is turning out to be worse than the Williams-Sharapova face-off as they have met a dozen times already now.
"This is probably worse. Serena and Sharapova only met 23 times in their career. Iga and Coco have already met 12 times and Coco just turned 20," a fan said.
Fans said that unlike Sharapova, who was not able to do much, there is not a huge difference between Swiatek and Gauff.
"Call me crazy, but unlike that match up, I don’t think Coco and Iga are that far apart game wise. I just think Iga is in her head, so she freezes in important points at 30 - 30 or 40 - 40. Or even when she’s narrowly ahead at say 40 -30. Needs to overcome the mental hurdle," a fan wrote.
Here are some more reactions from fans:
"Probably worse because there wasn’t anything Sharapova could realistically do. Gauff has way more room for improvement," a fan said.
"I think Coco will find the answer more times that Maria did against Serena," another fan said.
"it’s worse in my opinion. the matchup is just awful for coco," a fan said.
"At least Sharapova beat Serena in a Wimbledon final," a fan commented.
"At least Maria was able to beat Serena in big finals and win sets/ push to tiebreaks here and there. Coco can barely even reach 5 games in a single set against Iga. This is rough," another fan observed.
Iga Swiatek aims for rare three-peat at Roland Garros after SF win over Coco Gauff
Iga Swiatek will aim for a rare third consecutive title at Roland Garros after her SF win over Coco Gauff. She already has three crowns at the French Open having won titles in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The three-peat was last achieved by Justine Henin who won the championship between 2005 and 2007. Only Monica Seles, who was crowned the champion in 1990, 1991 and 1992, and Henin have managed to achieve the distinction among women at Roland Garros in the Open Era.
Iga Swiatek will face Italian Jasmine Paolini in the final. Paolini beat teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva of Russia in straight sets in the SF. Swiatek has been quite dominant against her opponents at the French Open so far and has a 2-0 record against Paolini.