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After the American defeated French hero Lois Boisson, Adrienne Sabalenka put an end to Iga Swiatek’s French Open dominance with a devastating third-set victory over Coco Gauff on Thursday.

With a 7-6 (7-1) 4-6, 6-0 victory in her first clay-court Grand Slam final, the Belarusian snapped Swiatek’s winning streak to reach her 26th match.

After defeating Swiatek in a decisive set at the French Open, Sabalenka declared, “Iga is the toughest opponent, especially on the clay and at Roland Garros.”

“I’m pleased that I received this victory,” he said.

In the second semi-final against Court Philippe Chatrier, world number two Gauff defeated 361st-ranked wildcard Boisson 6-1, 6-2 to put an end to his dream run.

In their head-to-head competition, Gauff and Sabalenka are at 5- 5 overall, and they have won one of their two matches at major tournaments.

Before Swiatek hit back to level the match, Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight serve breaks in a tie-break.

The third set ended up being a complete anti-climax, with only six points being won by Swiatek, who made 12 unforced errors in the process.

“I’m happy I found my job,” he said. The 27-year-old Sabalenka remarked that the serve was a little easier. What can I say, 6-0, is a perfect score for something?

After winning the US Open and the Australian Open consecutively in 2023 and 2024, Sabalenka wants to win a fourth Grand Slam title, first one on hard courts.

Since winning the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen a year ago, Swiatek hasn’t yet reached a WTA final.

She showed signs of revival on the Paris clay, where she has been a force since winning the French Open in 2020 as a teenager, but her game was lost in the decisive set, allowing her to suffer her third successive defeat.

Swiatek expressed his happiness at having the opportunity to play in so many top tournaments here, saying, “I love playing here.”

In total, Sabalenka has won five of its previous six meetings.

The pair, who have been the most popular women’s tennis players for the past few years, have met in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since Swiatek won in the 2022 US Open semi-finals to win the title.

When Sabalenka takes on Gauff, who she lost in the US Open final in 2023, Sabalenka will be the favorite to win the trophy.

Swiatek will drop to seventh place in the world rankings next week as a result of her bid to win four consecutive French Opens.

Gauff is too strong,

In the previous two rounds, third-seeded Jessica Pegula and world number six Mirra Andreeva had beaten Boisson, but Gauff’s test turned out to be insufficient.

A second seed’s brutal opening set kept the home crowd at bay.

In the second set, Boisson briefly woke up the French fans by breaking them in, only to immediately concede it.

Gauff successfully advanced to the second French Open final after only 69 minutes on the court.

In her on-court interview, Gauff remarked to the crowd, “I was thinking my name when you guys were chanting her name.

“I’m going to enjoy this one for now and then get ready for the final tomorrow,” I remarked. “Obviously there is still a lot to do.

The 21-year-old will believe she can finally win the tournament where she has reached at least the quarter-finals in five straight years despite being emotionally defeated by Swiatek in the 2022 final.

Boisson made 33 errors in total, making her only previous appearance in the Open era after Mary Pierce.

The 22-year-old admitted to being “really disappointed” today because she “often wanted to go further than this semi-final,” adding “obviously I’m going to take the time to digest this.”

She will climb into the world’s top 70 next week and has added 690, 000 euros ($789, 536) to her previous career prize money of $148, 009.

In the Champions League final, Cristiano Ronaldo broke his bad reputation against the Germans by winning 2-1 over Germany on Wednesday in Munich.

Ronaldo’s 138th international goal in the 68th minute sealed his longest winning streak against any nation since winning. It was his longest ever goal in opposition to any nation without a victory.

Three minutes after halftime, Florian Wirtz, who had a stuttering opening half, started and cleverly advanced through the middle before heading in the opener.

With only 45 minutes left, Portugal’s Francisco Conceicao ran 35 meters to score a brilliant solo goal that levelled things up.

Ronaldo, who had missed two excellent chances, was given the final chance to turn in a Nuno Mendes pass from close range.

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In the same location, Portugal, the reigning champion of the Nations League, will square off against either France or Spain in the final on Sunday.

Germany, which had only lost one of their previous 17 games, suffers from the loss.

Portugal’s four players were already in the lead when the celebrations and Saturday’s Champions League final came to an end, but Germany was the first to struggle to find rhythm.

Due to a violent storm that caused hailstones to strewn across the turf, the game arrived 10 minutes late.

While Portugal’s pressing Jonathan Tah almost paid off, the defender was insecure in possession, despite Aleksandar Pavlovic’s misplaced passes and several mislaid passes.

Ronaldo almost scored the opening goal six minutes into his first game for Germany since September 2024, but his old La Liga sparring partner Marc-Andre ter Stegen claimed it with his shot. He was greeted by Portuguese cheers and German boos every time he approached the ball.

Wirtz opener, &nbsp

With 18 minutes left, debutant Nick Woltemade had Germany’s best chance in the opening half, but Diogo Costa’s low shot, which was a 1.9-meter-tall striker, was well saved.

When Portugal broke right after halftime, Ronaldo was just inches away from opening the scoring with a clever Nuno Mendes cross that beckoned into the net.

The miss was punished by Germany in less than a minute. Before being laid off for Joshua Kimmich, Wirtz tiptoed down the left to catch three defenders.

The German captain chipped it past the Portugal defense before turning to Wirtz, who skillfully drilled a low header into the bottom right corner.

On the 60-minute mark, Roberto Martinez made three changes, but the difference was in the substitutions’ timing.

Conceicao dropped Robin Gosens with a shimmy close to the half-way line five minutes later before launching a superb curling shot past Ter Stegen in the last seconds.

Ronaldo then scored Portugal’s first goal in his 219th international, cue Ronaldo for his nerveless tap in of a Nuno Mendes pass to make up for his previous errors.

With eight minutes left, Munich-born Karim Adeyemi hit the crossbar, but Germany could not find an equalizer and will need to be content with a third-placed match on Sunday in Stuttgart.

As reigning men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced past the semi-finals of the French Open on Tuesday, three-time champion defending champion Iga Swiatek and world no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka met in a blockbuster match.

In the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier, Alcaraz defeated American 12th seed Tommy Paul in a match that ended in just five games.

The Spaniard needed only one hour and 34 minutes to defeat Paul 6-1, 6-1, and 6-6 to force a final-four encounter with Lorenzo Musetti from Italy.

Alcaraz apologized to the audience, “I’m sorry you wanted to watch more tennis; I had to do my work.”

“It was one of those matches where everything went in,” said the player. It seemed unbelievable to me how I felt today.

After Sabalenka advanced to a tense quarter-final against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7 / 3) 6-3, Swiatek, the fifth seed, defeated Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-5.

Swiatek, the world’s number five, has struggled to find her best form and hasn’t reached a final since winning the French Open last year.

However, in windy conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier, she gave Svitolina, the 13th seed, little opportunity on her preferred clay surface when she broke in the fourth game to make it through the first set.

Early in the second set, the pair had a string of break breaks before Swiatek’s powerful forehand, which forced the break to 5-5, forced the break.

The win was then sealed by back-to-back aces.

The score appears to be fairly straightforward even in the first set, according to Swiatek.

“I had to fight every single point,” he said.

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Rematch between Alcaraz and Musetti

Swiatek wants to become the first woman to win four Roland Garros titles in a row since Suzanne Lenglen did it 102 years ago.

It will be a difficult match because (Aryna) has been having a fantastic season, I won’t lie. After claiming her 26th victory in a row at the French Open, Swiatek said, “I’m happy for the challenge.”

Since April 2022, both players have held the top spot in the rankings.

Swiatek’s 11-month reign as world number one was ended by Sabalenka in October, but the Pole now leads with 8-4 in previous meetings.

Sabalenka, the current US Open champion, made amends earlier in Rome for her recent defeat to Zheng.

Sabalenka remarked, “The last tournament, I was pretty exhausted.

“I was more fresh and ready to fight today.”

Zheng, who had won ten matches on the Paris clay since her Olympic gold last year, had once more won the title.

Zheng broke for the first set, leading 4-2. However, the Belarusian was able to recover from numerous unforced errors, totaling 31.

Zheng, who has lost seven of her eight matches against Sabalenka, including the Australian Open final last year, said, “I gave her the chance, so easy.”

Sabalenka, the previous best in the semi-finals two years ago, feels like she is ready to make it all the way to Paris.

“It’s high-level matches,” the saying goes. I’m so excited to fight and do everything I can to win,” Sabalenka said.

After Musetti had earlier defeated Paul’s 15th-ranked compatriot Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, Alcaraz, 22, defeated the former world number nine Paul.

Paul, who he also defeated on his way to silver at the Paris Olympics last year, was the only one of whom he made 22 unforced errors against. He had 40 winners and made just 22 winners.

After Wimbledon last year, Musetti, 23, made it take more than two hours and 45 minutes to advance to his second Grand Slam semi-final.

Musetti’s serve proved to be a significant asset on the day, as he hit eight aces with an 81 percent success rate on his first ace.

He also saved two of Tiafoe’s three break points, who combined for the Italian with 51 unforced errors.

This clay-court season, Alcaraz and Musetti will meet for the third time.

Alcaraz has won the title in Rome by defeating the Italian in the Monte Carlo final and also putting him in the final four.