Roland Garros/French Open
Photo courtesy of Yann Caradec's Flickr Page - Rafael Nadal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/la_bretagne_a_paris/5756335239
The number one ranked woman in the world, Iga Świątek of Poland defeated Daria Kasatkina, winning easily in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. The 21 year old Świątek won here at Roland-Garros back in 2020, and is looking to try and win her second career Grand Slam title in what is her second ever appearance in a Grand Slam final match.
She will now face Coco Gauff of the United States, the 18th ranked woman in the world. Gauff is making her first ever appearance at a Grand Slam final in singles play, although she reached the final at both the French Open (this year) and the US Open (2021) in doubles play.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal just defeated rival Novak Djokovic and won a very memorable quarterfinal duel between the two in the French Open quarterfinal round. Djokovic is one of only two men to have defeated Nadal at Roland Garros, and the only man to have defeated him twice. The Spanish tennis legend survived in a tough four set match, and will now face German Alexander Zverev in one semifinal. Zverev is currently the third ranked man in the world, but is looking to make his second ever appearance in a Grand Slam final. He has to first defeat Nadal, the "King of Clay," who is historically dominant on the clay courts, and particularly here at Roland Garros, having won 13 French Open titles in the past. Nadal has won 91 ATP titles in his illustrious career, with 62 of them coming on clay. He also historically holds the longest winning streak of anyone on any surface, having once won 81 consecutive matches on clay.
In the other semifinal, Croatian Marin Čilić will be looking to qualify for his fourth ever Grand Slam final appearance. He won the US Open back in 2014, and has also reached the Wimbledon Men's final in 2017 and the Australian Open final in 2018. He is looking to qualify for a fourth ever career Grand Slam final, and for his first ever French Open final. He will be playing Christian Ruud of Norway, the number eight ranked man in the world currently, who is looking to make his first ever Grand Slam final appearance. This current run of his is, by far, the best results that Ruud has ever had in his career at a Grand Slam event.
No comments:
Post a Comment