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Iga Swiatek became the first Polish woman in the Open Era to reach the French Open final. The 19-year-old ended the run of Argentinian qualifier Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 10 minutes. This is Swiatek’s first final at a Major.
She is also the first Pole to reach the last round in Paris since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska at 1939 Roland Garros. Opening the match under breezy conditions, Swiatek struggled for the first two points as she went down 0-30. However, the teenager was quick to acclimatise herself to the momentousness of the occasion and to the conditions and held her nerves to hold her serve in the lengthy game.
The turnaround from the initial jitters to confidence was complete when she broke Podoroska in the second game to go up 2-0. These two games also dictated the momentum for the rest of the set, and the match, as well.
2020 Roland Garros: Iga Swiatek makes Polish history
Swiatek found the corners on both her forehand and backhand and kept redirecting her shots forcing Podoroska to mover wider and wider behind the baseline.
To finish the point in her favour, the Pole, either hit a winner by coming to the net at the same side of the court or drew out an error. In the opening set, Podoroska had an opportunity to get the set back on serve in the fifth game of the set.
However, she squandered the break point with an error. While the 23-year-old did well to hold her serve twice more after getting broken at the set’s start, a second break in the eighth game as she served to stay in it pulled Swiatek ahead in the match.
The second set, too, moved in the same manner as the first with Swiatek going up 2-0 courtesy of a hold and break. Two games later, the match looked to have slipped entirely from Podoroska’s racquet as she trailed by a double break 4-0.
As in the first set though, the Argentine received a few more break points in the fifth game of the second set and although she couldn’t convert the first three, she broke on her fourth try to finally put herself on the scoreboard, 4-1.
The relief was short-lived for the world no. 131 as she was broken for the third time which gave Swiatek the chance to serve out the match. On her own serve, the world no. 49 didn’t waste much time taking the win on the first of her two match points.
Podoroska hit six winners while Swiatek’s 23 winners were almost four times that number. Both players hit 20 unforced errors each. Swiatek finished the match with 61 points to Podoroska’s 34. In the final that will be played between two first-time French Open finalists, Iga Swiatek awaits the winner of the second semi-final between seventh seed Petra Kvitova and fourth seed Sofia Kenin. Photo Credit: Roland Garros Twitter