"For sure it wasn't easy especially the first set": Swiatek survives early scare to continue superb Gauff record

Iga Swiatek advanced to the Roland Garros (French Open) semi-final after yet another win over Coco Gauff but this was a bit more tricky than previous ones.

Gauff played against Swiatek last year but couldn't really do mcuh losing in two sets. This one was a nother match that lasted only two sets but it was far more close. Swiatek didn't play as dominant as she usually can but a lot of that was due to Gauff keeping her guessing early on in the match.

Ultimately the Polish player aws able to get it done breaking Gauff at 5-4 in the first set to finish things off. After the match, Swiatek confirmed that it was really tough, especially in the first set:

“For sure it wasn’t easy, especially the first set, it was really tight… I’m really happy that I was able to work with it and win this match."

This is the second time Swiatek is playing a grand slam as the defending champion. The first time she played at Roland Garros as the defending champion saw her beaten before the final. This year might finally become the first time she successfully defended a grand slam trophy and that's a major thing for any tennis player.

Reflecting on playing at the event as the defending champion, Swiatek said:

"I would say the beginnings of the tournaments are a little bit more tricky. Later you can just kind of play your game because you also feel a little bit more. Yeah, just getting into the rhythm is the toughest part and you kind of have to just progress a little bit, but keep it good... It happens sometimes in tournaments where I was winning matches pretty easily and then I just continued, you know. I feel like in terms of having these couple of tougher situations and really important points, you're just not going to feel rusty when it happens again. I didn't feel rusty today anyway, but it's good to have the experience."