Polish tank: how Swiatek beat Kasatkina in the Roland Garros semi-finals and repeated the achievement of Serena Williams

Hope for a sensation and a natural outcome

Before the start of Roland Garros, few could have imagined that Daria Kasatkina would perform best of all the Russians at the tournament.

Men could please rather: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev or Karen Khachanov.

However, all of them completed the performance, and the native of Tolyatti for the first time in her career made it to the top four at the Grand Slam tournament, beating compatriot Veronika Kudermetova.

Moreover, in France, she did not lose a set to her rivals.

However, in the semi-final, a much more serious test awaited her than Camila Giorgi or Shelby Rogers, the first racket of the planet, Iga Sviontek.

The young Pole has had a terrific run this year and has won five tournaments in a row.

And her winning streak after the defeat of Jessica Pegula (6:3, 6:2) consisted of 33 matches.

Yes, and the statistics of face-to-face meetings were on the side of Sviontek.

This year, the paths of the athletes crossed for the fourth time, and in the three previous cases, the Pole confidently took the upper hand.

Moreover, in previous matches, she did not give a Russian woman a set.

However, Kasatkina explained these failures with not the best form at the start of the season and promised to show a completely different tennis on clay.

In any case, Daria had nothing to lose: everyone would have met another failure with understanding, because she had already advanced as far as possible, but the victory allowed her to apply for getting into the cohort of the strongest and gain self-confidence.

Much more responsibility was pressing on the opponent, because, given the incredible results, everyone was waiting for her to win the next title.

Unfortunately, the fight on the court once again failed.

No matter how much the Russian woman claims that she feels different than at the start of the season, she again (as in Doha and Dubai) took only three games from the best tennis player on the planet - 2:6, 1:6.

Against the background of a rival, Sviontek seemed like an athlete from another planet.

Moreover, the beginning of the confrontation turned out to be quite promising.

A native of Togliatti demonstrated a rather bold game, and, most importantly, the ability to take a hit.

After a failure at the start, she did not crumble, as often happened before, but imposed a fight on the formidable Pole.

She made a break in the first game at the reception.

But the Russian woman actually presented it herself, hitting out six times, four of which were behind the back line.

Every time she lacked a little precision, and it seemed that Kasatkina was noticeably worried.

However, with a score of 0:2, the Russian woman immediately gathered herself and did the almost unbelievable - she took the opponent's serve.

Now Iga unexpectedly made a number of gross mistakes, missing the court twice and making a double mistake.

Following Daria managed to restore the balance on the scoreboard, although Sviontek had a break.

But at the decisive moment, Kasatkina acted as calmly as possible and on the balance sheet still caught on to the game.

Alas, domestic fans have not received more reasons for joy.

The Pole added, and the Russian, on the contrary, seemed to be frightened of her own agility and began to play stiffly.

As a result, in the next four games, she won only three draws and lost without a chance - 2:6.

The last game turned out to be especially revealing, in which the favorite took it to zero.

It does not make much sense to paint what happened on the court in the second installment, since the best tennis player in the world did everything she wanted.

Kasatkina took her serve only once and seemed to resign herself to the fact that she would not be able to make a comeback.

Sviontek enjoyed tennis and in protracted draws drove her opponent into the corners.

She took out the most unpleasant blows and answered them with even more incredible shots, which were simply unrealistic to cope with.

It is not surprising that Daria often ended attacks with hits out of bounds, and in total she had 24 unforced errors.

Nothing worked on the pitch.

If the percentage of points won by the first ball was still 44% (for Sviontek - 79%), then the second - only 21%, or three points.

Daria completed her performance at Roland Garros, but at a press conference she did not look upset at all and called the tournament in France the best in her life.

Moreover, according to the Russian woman, Sviontek did nothing for which she would not be ready.

“The fact is that today I was too emotional and could not cope with the nerves the way I did in previous matches.

I think it's ok.

Yes, and Iga played better and better during the meeting, ”Kasatkina emphasized.

Swiatek also won the 34th victory in a row and caught up in this indicator with Serena Williams.

The record series belongs to Martina Navratilova and is 74 meetings.

But it seems that with such dominance, the Pole is quite capable of catching up with the legendary Czech.

In the meantime, she will try to win Roland Garros for the second time in three years.

“This is a special moment, I am overwhelmed with emotions, and I am very grateful to be here, that I am healthy and able to play.

I really like to perform here, ”said the athlete immediately after the meeting.

The advantage of the rival in the class and problems with nerves

However, according to experts, there is nothing to blame Kasatkina, since she still achieved an excellent result.

So, the Olympic champion of Rio in doubles Elena Vesnina emphasized that the leader of the WTA rating leaves no chance for everyone on the tour, and it is almost impossible to challenge her.

“We needed tight first serves, aces, powerful shots from the back line.

At least some opposition to Swiatek.

Because at the average pace at which Dasha acts, the opponent is now unstoppable.

And even at a higher one, she is not mistaken.

Kasatkina tried to play in combination, changed the rotation, length, but this does not work with Iga.

Now it was difficult to find any weak point in her game.

Dasha did everything she could, ”Vesnina said in a conversation with RT.

She also called natural the successful performance of the Russian woman, who feels most comfortable on the ground.

“She won the junior Roland Garros many years ago.

And getting into the semi-finals turned out to be long-awaited, since Dasha has a very high potential.

Therefore, her success did not come as a surprise to me.

Of course, the quarterfinals with Kudermetova could have turned out differently, but Dasha turned out to be psychologically more stable than Veronika, ”added Vesnina.

In turn, the former third racket of the planet, Nadezhda Petrova, noted the fact that the Russian woman approached the TBSH in good shape, and her successful performance in previous tournaments gave her self-confidence.

“And she didn’t have any serious opponents on the grid.

She went very well and turned out to be stronger than Kudermetova in the quarterfinals.

Daria won this match precisely due to the fact that she showed the right tennis on the ground: she hit with rotation, high, used the entire court and ran under the blow from the right, ”the expert emphasized.

However, according to Petrova, she had no doubt that Swiatek would win an easy victory in the class, since the Pole acts almost flawlessly and competently plays ahead of the curve.

“I didn’t think that Kasatkina would be able to impose a fight on Iga.

Dasha acted too far from the line, while Swiatek plays aggressively.

The Russian just couldn't cope with the pace and nerves a little.

Yet the match took place on the center court.

Maybe a day off would do her good.

Excitement?

Oh sure.

It is difficult for the first time to be at this stage of the tournament and show the best tennis.

This does not work for everyone.

But the Pole somehow copes, ”added the two-time semi-finalist of Roland Garros.