Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s number one, will face Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros final on Saturday, and she wants to win the French Open title that would “mean the world.”
The 2018 Australian Open semifinalist Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep to win the first women’s Grand Slam final between the world’s top two players.
In the 2023 US Open final, Sabalenka and Gauff squared off before falling apart as Gauff, a young woman, won her first major title.
READ MORE: Sinner Ends Djokovic’s record bid to face Alcaraz in the French Open Final.
Although Sabalenka won their previous meeting last month in the Madrid Open final, their head-to-head record is tied at 5-5.
The top seed will compete in her first Slam final off-grid.
After completing Iga Swiatek’s bid for a fourth successive Roland Garros triumph in the semi-finals, she said, “I don’t know how many years, we’ve been able to develop my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay.”
It will mean the world to us if I can get this trophy, they say.
“I’m prepared to fight until the end, fight until the end, and give everything I can to win.”
With a devastating deciding set that she took 6-0 in just 22 minutes, Sabalenka ended Swiatek’s 26-match winning streak at the French Open.
The 27-year-old is aware that facing Gauff, who has always been comfortable on clay and has reached at least the quarter-finals in five of his career matches, will be difficult.
It was a big match (against Swiatek), and it sounded like a final, but “I know the job is not done yet,” added three-time major champion Sabalenka, who added that she needed to play my best tennis and that she had to go to the match on Saturday.
If that title is going to be Coco, I have to work for it.
Gauff hoping to remain “quiet.”
Gauff hopes to become the third woman to win two Grand Slam titles before turning 22 since Maria Sharapova, who won the famous 2004 Wimbledon title in 2006.
Swiatek and Naomi Osaka, both of whom were former world champions, are the other two.
Following a heartbreaking defeat by Swiatek in 2022, the 21-year-old was left in tears in her second Roland Garros final.
“Obviously, this is where I have a lot more confidence, derived from my previous Grand Slam success,” Gauff said.
I’ll give it my best shot and try to be as calm and composed as possible before Saturday.
Sabalenka will compete in her seventh WTA final of the year, which is the most by any player this season since Serena Williams, who defeated Sharapova to claim the title in Paris in 2013).
Gauff claims that Sabalenka’s influence has allowed her to take the lead in the world rankings.
“I think obviously her ball striking, she can come up with some big shots and big winners pretty much anywhere on the court, and she’s going to stay in the match regardless of the scoreline,” she said.
Gauff has lost two semi-final matches in her first Slam final since beating Sabalenka in New York two years ago, including Swiatek at Roland Garros a year ago.
To be honest, it feels a little slow. She said that the US Open hasn’t happened in a while.
“I think the previous experience I’ve had is that we had some up-and-down matches, and we had ones that I won straight sets and her vice versa…
Source: Channels TV
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