By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_now | Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Photo Credit: Andy Cheung/Getty
Coco gafff admits she spent time looking up to IgA swiatek in ranking and in court.
When Gauff faces Madrid Swiate Champion Protecting in tomorrow’s semifinal Mutua Madrid, she says she will hold more than her head bag in court – will be armed with the belief coming from Swiate in their last two meetings.
In general, the second -rank swiate has dominated Gauff by winning 11 of their 14 meetings, including the inclusion of all the 10 groups they played in Clay. In fact, Guff has managed to win more than five games in a clay court only once in their rivalry and that came to a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss in their girls’ meeting in Rome’s semifinals 2021.
Despite this unbearable record, Gauff says she is safe going to their last meeting because she has scored direct victory over Swiatek in their last two meetings. And because she believes she is accustomed to playing the opponent and not the record of Roland Garro’s reign champion as he did in the past.
“I think only faith (it’s change),” Gauff told the media in Madrid today after defeating Mira Andreeva 7-5, 6-1. “At the beginning of our matches, I mean, she was a high player, and I felt like I probably wrote myself before the match came, and now I definitely have a lot of confidence.
“Yes, she’s a tough opponent and, yes, I don’t think about that head to head anymore. I want to say, maybe at the beginning I did. Now I just treat her as a new match, new opportunities every time. And, yes, I’ll go there with confidence, and I believe I can win the game.”
Of course, Swiattek has struck Gufff’s weaker wing, commanding their clashes in the Argila trial, including a 6-1, 6-3 sweep in the 2022 final Roland Garros. Swiatek is also the best motion of the Argile Court in the game, which has reduced one of the biggest weapons Gauff holds over the rest of the world, its speed in the eye and the coverage of the court.
Both champions collided appear to be extremely hungry for success tomorrow. Swiatek is playing for her first final after she stopped Jasmine Paolini to win Roland Garros last June.
21-year-old Guff has been offering her first final since she won the WTA finals last November by beating the US Open Jessica Pegula finalist, No. 2 Swiatek, no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and the Olympic Champion of the Gold Medal, Zheng Qinwen to receive its largest title since 2023 US Open.
Today, the Australian Open Madison Keys champion immediately returned to Swiatek, blocking it until the first pine that the first Bagel that the pole has plunged into the 2019 Roland Garros when the Olympic Medal Olympic champion closed it in the first set. Still, Swiatek showed up relying on a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph that saw her win five in a row to close the keys.
One question in tomorrow’s semifinals: Can Guff Swiattek Second Serve Wtih attack the same success players as Andreeva, who defeated the second seed of the back-back in Dubai and Indian Wells, and French open French champion Jelena Ostapenko, who is 6-0 liffes vs. Pole, have they forced the swiatk to protect?
Or will it direct Guff to the tactic it has been used against Swiatek in the past, which is playing high, heavy forewords, below the line towards Roland Garros’s backward arm to prove to draw back exchanges?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5J5V-sic5i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaysm-f8yn4
Along most of Madrid, Gauff has served with confidence.
Opposite Andreeva today, the 2023 Open Open champion won 22 of the 26 points of the first service and fell only twice. Against the Olympic Champion of the Gold Medal Belinda Bencic in the 16th round, Gauff also won 22 of the first service points and faced only one resting point.
After crashing Andreeva today, Guff said she likes her chances of anyone if she can play at this high level.
“I feel like I always feel like I have a good chance, I mean, against anyone I play,” Gauff told the media in Madrid. “If I go into the match thinking I don’t do it, then I have already lost the game.
“No, I do not pay attention to groups (vs swiatek) or nothing, because at the end of the day is a new week, new time. I lost the first set of this tournament, 6-0, and everyone was like, ooh, it will lose the next round, or whatever.
“And so it’s just tennis, how, you lose, you reset you. You start again. Yes, I’ll wait for her to play a great tennis and probably her best tennis, and I’ll try to match her playing my best tennis.”
