Swiatek enters French Open showdown against Paolini as undisputed queen

After the joy of the unherladed, the fear. Will Grand Slam final debutante Jasminie Paolini freeze amid the bally-hoo and become another rapid victim of Iga Swiatek at the French Open? The omens do not favour the 28-year old Italian at all.

Paolini has lost both of their encounters and since Naomi Osaka failed to convert her match point in the second round against Swiatek, the 23-year-old Pole has emerged from the scare to click into snarling destructor mode piqued that her sheen of invincibility had been so scratched

Following her 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Osaka in just under three hours, Swiatek has spent around five hours going through Marie Bouzkova in the third round, Anastasia Potopova in the last-16, fifth seed Marketa Vondrousova in the quarters and third seed Coco Gauff in the semis. Potopova, her better in their junior days, was appraised of the contemporary disparity with a 6-0, 6-0 annihilation in 40 minutes. Swiatek lost 14 games in the four matches to reach the final. 

"We played a long time ago," said Swiatek of her opponent in the Saturday afternoon showdown. "So I need to prepare tactically and see what her game is at now because for sure she's had the best season of her life so she must have changed something."

Time

Paolini, by her own admission, has been the epitome of slow burn. Before winning the WTA 1000 competition in Dubai in February, Paolini's only success had been at the Slovenia Open in 2021.

"I don't think there was a special moment when it changed," she said of her rise.

"I think it was like a process. I started to play better and better and also against the top players.

"Before they'd beat me 6-1, 6-1 or 6-2, 6-1 and there would be no match. But then, even if I lost all the matches against the top players, I was getting closer and closer. That helped me with the confidence.

"I step on court believing that I can win those matches and that's I think the main click that I did."

Paolini displayed commendable resilience to shrug off an internal meltdown in her quarter-final match against the fourth seed Elena Rybakina.

Change

Leading 6-2, 4-3 and with two points for a 5-3 advantage, she let the 2022 Wimbledon champion back in to win the set 6-4.

But Paolini rediscovered her mojo and claimed the decider to move into a semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

Against the unseeded Russian Mirra Andreeva, who was also in the same position, she showed calm and guile to reach the final and a potential payday of 2.4 million euros should she lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen or 1.2 million euros to soothe her anguish as the runner-up.

Though 17-year-old Andreeva showed glimpses of the wonders she will bring to the WTA tour, Swiatek roams the realm as queen resplendent. Victorious on the clay courts in Madrid and Rome in the prelude to the French Open, shewill be another proposition as she attempts to emulate Serena Williams' 2013 feat of lifting the tophy at all three tournaments. 

Moment

Paolini and Swiatek last played in August 2022 on the hard courts at the US Open. Swiatek, the top seed, beat the unseeded Paolini in straight sets.

And virtually six years on from their initial meeting in Prague, Swiatek boasts 21 titles including three French Open crowns and a US Open title.

Triumph on Saturday afternoon will place Swiatek in the pantheon with Monica Seles and Justine Henin as the only women to have won three French Opens on the trot in Paris since 1968 when professional players were allowed to compete at the Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

Paolini, who reached the doubles final with fellow Italian Sara Errani, admits she never dreamed of such exploits.

"It's unbelievable to see Jannik [Sinner] when he was 15-years-old say that his dream was to be world number one and for me it's something different.

"I never dreamed to be in a Grand Slam final, and I'm here. I'm so happy but it's something different. I'm a different kind of person I think."

On Court Philippe Chatrier, Paolini, has the chance to be that different kind of person: the winner of a Grand Slam tournament title.