Swiatek downs Gauff to reach Rome Open final as Paul battles through
- 16 May 2024
World number one Iga Swiatek swept aside third-ranked Coco Gauff to reach the Rome Open final on Thursday and move one win away from emulating an 11-year-old Serena Williams landmark after Tommy Paul earlier survived a chaotic ending to emerge victorious from his quarter-final encounter with Hubert Hurkacz.
Swiatek, the 2021 and 2022 champion, came through 6-4, 6-3. Victory on Saturday would make Swiatek only the second woman after Williams in 2013 to win the prestigious Madrid and Rome events back-to-back in the same season.
The 22-year-old Pole defeated third-seed Gauff for the 10th time in their 11 encounters, with her only loss in the series coming last summer in a Cincinnati semi-final. Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam winner due to defend her Roland Garros title starting a week from Sunday.
The top seed spent one and three-quarter hours in dispatching Gauff, the reigning US Open champion.
Swiatek ended with 26 winners and broke four times. “I’m not thinking about statistics or history,” she said after the victory. “I’m just playing day by day.
“It’s easier that way, it lets you play more freely. “I’ll just try to play as good as possible in the final, no matter who it is. “I won’t be thinking of any records, there is still work to do.”
Paul beat Hurkacz:Tommy Paul reached a clay court semi-final for the first time in his career with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 upset of Hubert Hurkacz at the ATP-WTA Rome Open.
The 14th seed is the first American to reach the final four at the Foro Italico since Reilly Opelka in 2021. The momentum-shifting quarter-final came down to the wire, with a 15-minute final game capping off nearly two and three-quarter hours on court.
Paul finally came through on his fourth match point as Poland’s Hurkacz sent a return long. The match featured 13 breaks of serve, with Paul advancing with 29 winners and 41 unforced errors; and Hurkacz having 22 and 44 respectively.
“I started well but it got away from me in the second and start of the third,” Paul said. “I had to stick around in the match. “I found the energy to get it going again. I was hitting my forehand bigger and with more intensity because Hubii can really crush the ball.”
Hurkacz, who knocked Rafa Nadal out in the Rome second round, was unable to get his massive serve up to speed as he faced Paul, winner over defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round.
Hurkacz won the clay title in Estoril last month and suffered only his third loss on clay this spring.
London’s Queen’s Club to host WTA Tour event: Queen’s Club will host London’s first tour-level women’s event in more than 50 years in 2025, British Tennis chiefs announced on Thursday.
The Lawn Tennis Association, the sport’s governing body in Britain, cited a desire to raise the profile of women’s Tennis and boost the visibility of the game in the run-up to Wimbledon as reasons for a shake-up in the grasscourt season.
The new WTA 500 event at Queen’s Club, will take place in the week after the French Open, with the established men’s tournament to follow. The men’s ATP Tour had expressed concerns that the grass surface would suffer with two consecutive weeks of play. The last time a women’s event was staged at the venue was in 1973.
Agencies