Iga Swiatek swept Coco Gauff in the French Open quarterfinals, rolling toward a possible third Roland Garros title while extending the U.S. major singles title drought to the longest in history.
The top seed Swiatek won 6-4, 6-2 in a rematch of last year’s French Open final. Swiatek has beaten the American in straight sets in all seven of their meetings, though Gauff made this one more competitive than most.
Gauff, the sixth seed and the the only teenager in the world top 49, stayed with Swiatek in the first set until being broken at love in the final game. In the second set, she lost three break points at 1-all.
“Obviously you lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy,” Gauff said. “It’s not fun at all, but also, every time I play her, I’m not thinking about the previous record. I treat it as a new opportunity every single time, and I think that’s the best way to do it. If I go in believing that I lost the match before it already happens, then I’m never going to win. But obviously when it’s over, yeah, it does suck.”
Swiatek, who won 23 consecutive games earlier in the tournament, dropped more than four games in a match for the first time all tournament.
“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “Coco was really using the conditions here.”
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In Thursday’s semifinals, Swiatek gets 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maid, the first Brazilian woman to reach the last four of a major since Maria Bueno at the 1968 U.S. Open. Haddad Maia, who never made it past the second round in 11 previous majors, overcame No. 7 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in an earlier quarterfinal.
The other semifinal pits No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka against 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova.
Gauff was the last American left in either singles draw.
The U.S. has now gone 12 consecutive majors without a men’s or women’s singles champion, breaking the record for its longest drought in history (dating to 1877). The previous record of 11 in a row spanned between Chuck McKinley‘s win at 1963 Wimbledon to the first of Billie Jean King‘s 12 major singles titles at 1966 Wimbledon.
The 12-major drought for U.S. women alone is the longest since Monica Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.
The last American woman to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The last American man to win was Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.
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