The 2022 tournament is coming to an end. The last quarter-finals took place this Wednesday, June 1. While waiting for the men, the women came into action and the Polish Iga Swiatek still seems strong. Croatian Marin Cilic qualified for the semi-finals.
The actress : Iga Swiatek
The world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, qualified for the semi-finals of Roland-Garros by eliminating the American Jessica Pegula (11th), 6-3, 6-2. The Pole thus continues her 33rd success in a row and settles alone on the podium of the longest invincible players of the 21st century, behind the Williams sisters (Venus 35, Serena 34). She was previously tied with Belgian Justine Henin. Jostled in the previous round by the young Chinese Qinwen Zheng (74th), who had taken a set from her for the first time since April 23, the Pole was able to raise the game at the right time against a pugnacious Pegula, especially at the start of the game. , despite numerous unforced errors (28 for 30 winning shots).
Swiatek, the last member of the top 10 still in contention after the carnage of the first week, is a big favorite at Porte d’Auteuil. She appeared on clay in Paris after winning the five previous tournaments in which she participated (Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome). In the next round, the winner of the Parisian Grand Slam in 2020 will face the Russian Daria Kasatkina, 20th in the world.
The Revelation: Casper Ruud
The match of the night opposed two players of tomorrow: the Norwegian Casper Ruud 23 years old and 8th world scorer of Tsonga in the first round and the Dane Holger Rune (19 years old) in the last quarter-final of the table. These two are destined for a nice career. It was midnight 45 when Ruud won in 4 sets (6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (6/2), 6-3). This is the first time that a Norwegian has qualified for the semi-finals at Roland-Garros: “I don’t know what time I’m going to go to bed between all the requests, the press, the treatments…” said the winner of the night and new national hero. He had to quickly fall asleep: the semi-final against Cilic awaits him on Friday. He will be the favourite.
The unexpected: Marin Cilic
Croatian Marin Cilic, former world No. 3, now 23rd, qualified for the first time in his career for the Roland-Garros semi-finals by defeating world No. 7, Andrey Rublev, in five sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10/2)) this Wednesday. For a place in the final, Cilic, 33, will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud (8th) or the young Dane Holger Rune, 40th in the world at 19 years old. Cilic, winner of the 2014 US Open, thus becomes the fifth active player to have reached the last four in the four Grand Slam tournaments, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. He is the first Croatian player to achieve such a performance.
After crushing world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the previous round, the tall Croatian (1.98m) hit 88 winners, including 33 aces (for 71 unforced errors), to win after the very first super tie – break (in ten points) disputed on the Central of Roland-Garros, after four hours and ten minutes of match.
The duel: Kasatkina – Kudermetova
Daria Kasatkina qualified for her first Grand Slam semi-final by beating her compatriot Veronika Kudermetova, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5). The 25-year-old Russian has still not lost a set in the Paris tournament. She is also the player who has lost the fewest games so far. To reach the quarters, she had yielded only fourteen. Only Dinara Safina (5 in 2009), Serena Williams (10 in 2013) and Mary Pierce (13 in 2000) had done better. And all of them had then risen to the minimum in the final.
Former winner of the junior tournament at Porte d’Auteuil in 2014, Kasatkina had already reached the quarters in Major on the senior circuit twice, including in 2018 in the Paris tournament. That year, she had reached her highest ranking (10th), before marking time and going through what she herself described as a “dark period”, which made her think for a while about stopping her career. , at only 21 years old.
But for the past year, it has gradually returned to the fore: No. 72 at the start of 2021, it is currently ranked 20th in the world. She had a good start to the season, with 22 wins since the start of the year (5th best performance), and had reached the semi-finals in Rome. The one who aims to “make zero mistakes” in the Parisian tournament and not “reproduce past mistakes” will face this Thursday in the semi-final the world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, big favorite of the tournament.
The number: 21
Born on May 31, 2001, Swiatek celebrated her 21st birthday the day before her quarter-final. After her victory, she signed on a camera “I’m getting old but I’m still fresh”, in reference to this 21st birthday, which she admitted in an interview not really knowing how to celebrate when it falls in full Roland -Garros.
The phrase
“The schedule for evening matches can pose questions for the comfort of the players. These are questions I ask myself too. The balance sheet, we will do it at the end. » Amélie Mauresmo, the director of Roland-Garros about the nocturnal sessions.
The main results
Quarterfinals (women’s simple) : Swiatek (Pol/no. 1) b. Pegula (USA/No. 11) 6-3, 6-2; China (Russia/No. 20) b. Kudermetova (Russia/No. 29) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Quarter-final men: Cilic (Cro.) b. Rublev (Rus.) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-2)