PARIS - Defending champion Iga Swiatek declared that she was in the zone as her quest for a fourth French Open title hit top gear after a 6-0 6-2 victory over former runner-up Marketa Vondrousova sent her through to the semi-finals on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old's 62-minute workout set up a seismic last-four encounter with American Coco Gauff in a repeat of the 2022 final won by the Pole who will look to improve her 10-1 overall record against the third seed.
"Today it was pretty straightforward. I'm happy that I kept my focus. Sometimes I felt the game was pretty intense," Swiatek said after making the Roland Garros semi-finals for the fourth time in five years.
"Sometimes the intensity went down a bit. I wanted to just play my game no matter what was coming back from Marketa. I felt like I was in the zone today."
Swiatek wasted little time to start firing in the clash of reigning Grand Slam champions on Court Philippe Chatrier as she built a 5-0 lead over Wimbledon winner Vondrousova and wrapped up the opening set when the fifth seed hit a shot long.
It was the top seed's third bagel in a row following her demolition of Russian Anastasia Potapova and she achieved it by dictating points from all parts of the court to completely overwhelm 2019 finalist Vondrousova.
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The Czech cut a frustrated figure but finally got on board in the second set following a rare Swiatek mistake and earned a break point in the next game, but could not stop her ruthless rival from extending her winning run on clay to 17 matches.
Madrid and Rome champion Swiatek broke for a 3-1 lead and never looked back, sealing victory when Vondrousova hit a shot into the net, and she quickly turned her attention to Gauff.
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"It's good to keep going and not think of this match as something huge," Swiatek said.
"Against Coco it isn't easy. She really likes clay, especially here. I'll just focus on myself and I'll prepare tactically and we'll see."
