Friday, June 7, 2024

The Queen of Paris vs. the Fighting Italian (2024 edition)

No one is surprised that world number 1, three-time French Open champion and two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek is once again in the final in Paris. On the other hand, a lot of people are surprised that Italy's Jasmine Paolini will be her opponent. Before the tournament, I chose Paolini as my dark horse, so I'm not one of those people. 

As for the players who were highly likely to wind up in the final--two of them, Elena and Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka--are dealing with physical ailments. Rybakina is dealing with three physical problems, in fact, though that hasn't stopped tennis fans from bashing her mercilessly. Sabalenka had the misfortune to develop a stomach illness during her quarterfinal match.

Paolini defeated a listless Rybakina in the quarterfinals, and Sabalenka fell to teen star Mirra Andreeva. Of course--as I wrote two days ago--we'll never know how those matches would have turned out had the higher-ranked players been healthy.

Swiatek and Paolini have played each other only twice. Swiatek won both of those matches, which were played on hard courts.

Paths to the final:

IGA SWIATEK (1)

round 1--def. Leolia Jeanjean (Q)
round 2--def. Naomi Osaka
round 3--def. Marie Bouzkova
round of 16--def. Anastasia Potapova
quarterfinals--def. Marketa Vondrousova (5)
semifinals--def. Coco Gauff (3)

JASMINE PAOLINI (12)

round 1--def. Daria Saville
round 2--def. Hailey Baptiste
round 3--def. Bianxa Andreescu
round of 16--def. Elina Avanesyan
quarterfinals--def. Elena Rybakina (4)
semifinals--def. MIrra Andreeva

In the meantime, we have some champions. Laura Siegemund and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the 4th seeds, won the mixed doubles title when they defeated 2nd seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Shupski 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Krawczyk was going for her second French Open title, and her third major title with Shupski. Krawczyk holds four major mixed doubles titles.

Krawczyk, by the way, played her women's doubles semifinal match today, with partner Caroline Dolehide; however they lost to Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova. The 5th seeds will play 11th seeds Sara Errani and--a little drum roll here--Jasmine Paolini for the title.

There was also a major upset in wheelchair play. 2nd seed Yui Kamiji was upset by Momoko Ohtani. Defending champion Diede de Groot, who is usually in a final with Kamiji, will face Zhu Zhenzhen for the title. Kamiji, however, will be facing de Groot in the doubles final. She and partner Kgothatso Montjane, the top seeds, will play 2nd seeds de Groot and Aniek Van Koot for the title. Kamiji and Kgothatso are the defending champions.

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