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Gauff plants her feet and leaps into a fantastic inside-out forehand which clips the sideline. Switek, though, hammers away off both flanks until she finds scope for a finishing forehand – she seems to anticipate her opponent’s shots better than anyone else – and when her opponent goes long, she rubs it in with an ace, then Gauff nets and suddenly this match is almost over. Swiatek 6-4 5-2 Gauff
Down 15-40, Gauff can’t decide whether to leap for a lob or run in behind it, the indecision enough to mean she can’t do either. So Swiatek breaks, and is now two games from victory; she’s ceded chances today, though, so this isn’t over yet – just five to.
Coco Gauff with a big backhand. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesA straightforward hold apiece, so Swiatek leads Gauff 6-4 3-2 and it looks like I thought our first match did, the better player doing just enough to get in front and stay there. Gauff, though, is playing well; her problem is that Swiatek is better than Jabeur, especially on the dirt.
I should’ve noted earlier by the way, today is Pride Day at Roland-Garros. Visibility and representation matter, people.
Welcome to the very first Pride Day at Roland-Garros 🏳️🌈
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2023 …but nope, Gauff can’t take either, messing the second with a poor return to a gimme second serve; deuce. Next point, the players convene at the net again and this time, perhaps remembering that lob, Gauff slams the ball directly at her opponent; lovely stuff. Again, though, she can’t convert – Swiatek is winning almost all the big points – and shonuff she hangs on for 6-4 2-1.
Gauff holds then gets to 0-30 on the Swiatek serve ,whereupon a fine forehand return takes control of the next point and a drop looks to have won it … except with both players at the net and the whole court available, she somehow overhits her lob. No matter, she then digs out a forehand from the corner and Swiatek nets, so here come two break points…
Gauff looks serious during change of ends, either furious, stealing herself for what’s to come, or both. And at 0-15 she comes in to level the game – perhaps a change of tactics – problem being her tendency to hit forehands off her back foot then costs her as Swiatek punishes one of her own for 40-15 before closing out to 30. Three games in a row now for the champ who leads 6-4 1-0.
Iga Swiatek wins the first set against Coco Gauff 6-4!Gauff will be devod at that, one careless volley and two poor forehands allowing a brutal forehand from Swiatek that cements her lead.
Right as Gauff looks to have taken control of the first point, lashing a backhand to the corner, she doesn’t do enough on the clean-up volley and Switek rushes to the net to flip over a winner; 0-15, and more pressure, then a netted forehand and 46 minutes of hard yakka is at risk. Ach, then another netted forehand and Swiatek has three set points!
Ach, at 0-15 Gauff lines up another backhand down the line … but this time she strays wide. It feels odd to call that a chance but it was, and so is this, Swiatek dropping a backhand just over the baseline. From 15-30, though, she closes out to lead 5-4 in set one; can Gauff handle the pressure of having to hold to stay in it?
….and Swiatek waits for a second serve, moving around her backhand to smite down the line .. . and into the tape. That was a chance, now gone, because on deuce Gauff power-strokes her money, the backhand down the line, and quickly closes out from there for four-four.
Iga Swiatek with a forehand to Coco Gauff. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty ImagesSwiatek holds easily, then at 15-all finds a fine forehand – try saying that after a Babycham or 17 – for 15-30. Gauff does then make 30-all, but a rare backhand error means she’s facing break point at 3-4 30-40…
That was a crucial break because Swiatek has looked impregnable, not just so far today but across this tournament so far. Gauff, though, looks in trouble at 0-30, only to win the game from there courtesy of another botched forehand – this time into the net. Swiatek 3-3 Gauff
But now Gauff gets 0-30 and though Swiatek closes the gap with a winner, she nets a backhand to cede two break-back points. Gauff, it seems, has decided her route to victory is all-out attack, so she takes on a forehand down the line and misses, but then staying in the next point she refuses to commit – instead, she waits as Switaek comes in to stick away an easy ball … only to overhit it! Gauff breaks back immediately, and will now serve at 2-3 in the first.
Trouble for Gauff, who nets a backhand on the run at 0-30 and now faces three break points … and Swiatek only needs one, another netted backhand giving her a 3-1 advantage.
“Ohhhh!” exclaims Chrissy, Gary Nev-style, when Gauff races to the forehand corner, makes a terrific get, then pegs it the other way and sends a fantastic backhand cross-court for 15-30. But Swiatek holds nevertheless, and this is already a better standard than the first match – despite the drama and amity.
So how do you beat Swiatek? “Rybakina beats her regularly by just blowing her off the court,” says Calv, our resident coach, but that option isn’t available to Gauff “because her forehand is toilet”. She holds comfortably, though, while Chrissy, who earlier noted the same issue as Calv, says she had an all-court game at 15 which neither she not Graf did. Swiatek 1-1 Gauff
In co-comms, Chrissy says Swiatek doesn’t really have a weakness, but Gauff has the second-serve edge and will have to attack her opponent in that aspect. Not for now though, the challenger winning a point with a lovely stop-volley and the champion holding to 15.
And play, Swiatek to serve.
If Switaek loses today, she also loses her no1 ranking to Sabalenka – on which point, if you’re a regular reader and you’ve not wondered how Calv Betton analyses the match-up, you should be doing so here it is: “Swiatek will tonk Gauff cos she always does”. Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the best explanation, and Swiatek is 6-0 in the head-to-head, has mainly won easily, and knows to target the forehand.
Tangentially, if there was a better album than this in 2022, I didn’t hear it. Seriously, wade in and you disagree, come at me.
Here come out players, both of them with headphones. Can someone please ask what tunes they’ve got going on.
I can’t lie, I thought we’d seen the last of that Ons – she seemed to lose the faith after losing the second set, and couldn’t adjust when Haddad Maia started reading her drops. I’m sure she’ll be stronger on the grass at Wimbledon, but will be bothered by her collapse in the decider – and I hate to say it but make no mistake, that’s what it was.
Coming up next: Iga Swiatek [1] v Coco Gauff [6]. Don’t mind if we do!
“She’s a very nice person,” Haddad Maia says of Jabeur, adding that they know each other and she represents the women’s game so well. She believed in her body, didn’t mind playing a long game, and off she goes to prepare for her semi! What an achievement! This is the beauty of sport right here, two huge competitors battling then sharing love, and one of them living the greatest day of her life. Magic.
Haddad Maia claps when told she’s the first Brazilian woman to reach a semi in the open era, then takes a deep breath when asked how she managed to recover after such a long match in the last 16. She thanks the crowd, especially the Brazilians, then says in majors you get a day off and her amazing team worked on her body, but this is tennis, they work all year to be ready for this, and Jabeur is one of the best players in the world even on clay, so she’s very proud of herself and her team.
Beatriz Haddad Maia [14] beats Ons Jabeur [7] 3-6 7-6(5) 6-1!Jabeur swipes long, Haddad Maia can barely believe what’s happened, and her vanquished opponent comes around the net to give her a long, deep hug that says so much. It’s Haddad Maia’s day, she reaches her first major semi by coming from a set down for the third time in the tournament, and will face Gauff or Swiatek next.
Oh Ons. She nets a backhand that gives Haddad Maia 0-30 and who saw this coming after the first set? And oh dear oh dear, stood mid-court, Jabeur nets a forehand which means she faces three match points! Can Haddad Maia embrace the tension? This the moment of her life!
It’s so great to see a player come of age, and Haddad Maia, now 27, has left it late but looks at one with her game and though this is her first Slam quarter, I doubt it’s her last. Meantime, Jabeur fights her way to 30-all then smites a forehand return that yields break point … only to play a poor backhand which hands her opponent deuce. So the Tunisian goes again, taking command of the next point and Haddad Maia defends well only to botch her forehand as soon as she gets the chance to hit a winner … then Jabeur does exactly the same and is furious! Rightly so, a couple of those gets were very serious, the forehand she missed from mid-court, er, not. This is such a fun match now, both players hitting their highest level at its crucial juncture: Jabeur misses another couple of chances to break, then after Haddad Maia hits a lovely backhand for advantage, saves herself via forehand. No matter: Haddad Maia hangs tough, properly having a word with herself before serving at game point, and when Jabeur nets a backhand return, she’s a game away! Haddad Maia 3-6 7-6(5) 5-1 Jabeur
Another poor drop allows Haddad Maia to make 0-15 – maybe Jabeur should just forget that shot because it’s costing more than it’s gaining – and shonuff the big shots get her 30-15, then another drop is easily picked up for 30-all. So Jabeur clatters down what looks like an ace, but the umpire comes down to rule otherwise, then a forehand drops long and Haddad Maia has a point for 4-1 and a third consecutive break! She finds a lovely length on the forehand too, then of course as I type that sends one long at here comes another deuce, Haddad Maia landing a return on the line that’s good enough for advantage … saved by Jabeur, who saves another, then on deuce kicks away a return because she thinks the serve was out … which it wasn’t! What on earth?! Oh Ons! Oh mate! So Haddad Maia sticks a backhand onto the baseline …. when it comes back cuts a tremendous forehand cross-court onto the sideline … and Jabeur nets! She’s got her double-break back and leads 4-1 in the decider!
A return onto the line, Haddad Maia goes long, and has Jabeur relocated her moxie just in time? 3-1 in the decider…
Jabeur, though, may be playing off memory but also knows how to compete, and she makes 30-all then pastes a glorious forehand onto the sideline for a break point she knows she needs to take. Here it comes…
Ons Jabeur thumps a forehand return to Beatriz Haddad. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty ImagesI said this earlier, but against Sorribes Tormo, Haddad Maia hit a purple patch, she might just’ve done likewise here … and has Jabeur gone? On 30-all, a weak serve is annihilated down the line for a winner then another tame delivery is handed similar treatment, and that’s the double break! Beatriz Haddad Maia is flying! Ons Jabeur is floundering!
Haddad Maia is feeling herself now, a terrific love consolidation giving her 2-0. she served really well in that game, finding an ace and the means through which to take command of the other points. Haddad Maia 3-6 7-6(5) 3-0 Jabeur
Haddad Maia has a real chance at this now, mainly, because Jabeur isn’t playing that well – if she does, she wins. But the number 14 seed is doing a pretty good job of either hiding her backhand or hitting it less often, while running down the majority of drops sent in her direction. And shonuff she races to 15-40, and though Jabeur finds an ace onto the sideline in the process of making deuce, when she gets advantage another poor drop is followed by a netted forehand handing Haddad Maia another break point … and this time she takes it, attacking a weak second serve with a backhand, Jabeur sending her response wide! The Brazilian is controlling this match now, 1-0 up in the decider!
Haddad Maia wins the second set to level the match against Jabeur at 3-6 7-6(5)!A serve out wide, a colossal forehand into the opposite corner, and we’ve got ourselves a shoot-out for the semis!
Jabeur saves the first after a net-cord means all Haddad Maia can do bunt a ball back into play for the inevitable clear-up … then the second with another big forehand that she gives more than it needed; it clips the sideline. One more set point, this one on the Brazilian’s serve…
Haddad Maia restores her double mini-break, reading a forehand cross-court to guide a fine backhand winner down the line … but at 5-2, a double fault makes it tight again, then Jabeur opens the court only to plant a forehand long though she makes like it’s in! Three set points to the Brazilian!