Image of Coco Gauff breathtaking performance last week at the Madrid Open, beating Iga Świątek 6-1, 6-1 in 64 minutes. With this victory, Gauff secured her spot in history as the first Black woman to reach a Wimbledon final since 1975. Świątek struggled to find a rhythm on her beloved clay courts. That would be a crushing defeat for longtime French Open darling, the two-time winner of the event. It’s among the most lopsided losses of her career.
The great Iga Świątek clay-court specialist, she has four Roland Garros championships. As of late she has had a tough stretch. The loss to Gauff in this semifinal was her sixth straight loss in a semifinal appearance. It highlighted her protracted battle to make a tour final since her 2024 French Open win. Coming into the match, Świątek had an enviable 11-1 head-to-head record against Gauff, but she is now 0-3 in their last three meetings.
In that final match, Świątek started out well, making it through her first service game. Yet she followed that up by winning just 11 more games in 11 straight matches, which ended with a very rapid exit. After release, the result is truly amazing. That’s just the second time she’s won that few games in a clay-court match during her professional career. The second only occurred in 2019. At only 18 years old, she had to play Simona Halep at the French Open and lost favorably 6-1, 6-0.
Reflecting on her performance in her post-match conference, Świątek was clearly disappointed, saying she never felt in-tune during the match.
“Today, for sure, everything kind of collapsed, both tennis-wise and I feel like I wasn’t even in the right place with my feet before the shots,” – Iga Świątek
She knew she needed to be more agile in her step on the basketball court. More fluid offense would have provided her opportunities to get back in the game.
“I wish I would have moved better because I think that would get me any opportunity to bounce back because this is usually what happens,” – Iga Świątek
Throughout the run, Gauff set herself apart with aggression and her consistent shotmaking. She was incredibly poised, and she was able to keep that level of play up from start to finish.
“I think I was aggressive and played with margin,” – Coco Gauff
She knew Świątek was capable of turning the match back to her favor, but just tried to control her own game and keep it consistent.
“Especially when you’re playing someone like Iga, you know at any moment she could come back and play great tennis. For me, it was just making sure my level stayed the same,” – Coco Gauff
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