French Open: Coco Gauff beats Loïs Boisson to set up a 1 vs. 2 final against Aryna Sabalenka

PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff reached her second final at Roland-Garros by beating Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday to end the surprising, upset-filled run by a French wild-card entry who is ranked No. 361.

The victory by No. 2 Gauff sets up a blockbuster championship match against No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.

Sabalenka is a three-time major champion and earned a shot at a fourth by ending Iga Swiatek’s 26-match French Open winning streak. Sabalenka’s 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 win in the semifinals prevents Swiatek from becoming the first woman to win four consecutive championships in Paris.

This will be just the second No. 1 vs. No. 2 women’s final at the French Open in the last 30 years.

It’s also a rematch of the 2023 U.S. Open final, in which Gauff beat Sabalenka to claim her first major trophy at age 19.

Gauff was the runner-up to Swiatek at Roland-Garros in 2022.

Much to the chagrin of the 15,000 or so locals pulling for their countrywoman under a closed roof at Court Philippe-Chatrier on a drizzly day, Gauff vs. Boisson wasn’t much of a contest, as might be expected from their rankings and relative experience.

Then again, that didn’t stop Boisson from eliminating both No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva en route to becoming the first woman since 1989 to get to the semifinals in her Grand Slam debut.

Loud as the crowd was, repeatedly singing Boisson’s first name, Gauff’s play spoke volumes, too, as she took 20 of the first 30 points for a 4-0 lead. That pattern held, and by the end, Gauff had claimed 34 of the 51 points that lasted at least five strokes.

Most remarkable about Sabalenka’s win was the way — her back dotted with flecks of the rust-colored clay — she dominated in crunch time, racing through the last set.

“I mean, 6-love,” she said. “What can I say? Couldn’t be more perfect than that.”

Swiatek’s explanation?

“I lost my intensity a bit,” she said. “Just couldn’t push back.”

With no wind or other elements for the players to confront, both produced some terrific tennis for stretches. But when Sabalenka decided to swing away, she rushed Swiatek into mistakes.

This stat says it all: The third set included 12 unforced errors off Swiatek’s racket, and zero off Sabalenka’s.

“It feels incredible, but I also understand that the job is not done yet,” said Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus who took the top WTA ranking from Swiatek last October.

This continues a rough stretch for Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, who hasn’t reached a final at any tournament since walking away with her third trophy in a row — and fifth Grand Slam title overall — from Paris 12 months ago. She recently slid to No. 5 in the rankings.

Her rut includes a loss in the semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Later last season, she was suspended for a month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was caused by a contaminated medicine.

Sabelanka is, unquestionably, as good as it gets in women’s tennis right now.

Even before getting to this final, her six appearances in title matches this year were the most for a woman entering the French Open since Serena Williams in 2013.

And her first-strike tennis, always such a threat on faster surfaces, is clearly quite useful on the slower clay, too. On Saturday, the thuds generated by her contact with the ball reverberated around the arena.

“She didn’t doubt,” Swiatek said. “She just went for it.”

Even though Sabalenka broke in the first game and soon led 4-1 — at which point Swiatek was glancing up at her coach, Wim Fissette, in the stands, hoping for some sort of insight that could change things — this was not one-way traffic. Swiatek ended up leading 5-4 in that set, but when they got to the tiebreaker, Sabalenka asserted herself.

Did the same in the final set.

The fans seemed mainly to be pulling for Swiatek, perhaps hoping to see a bit of history, and broke into chants of “I-ga!” rather frequently. That might have rubbed Sabalenka the wrong way, because after striking a return winner, she windmilled her arms at the mild reaction, as if to say, “Hey! I’m here, too! And I’m No. 1. How about sending some support this way?”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press